


The Bookworm and the Bloody Bird

by LeoLeonte



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling, Supernatural
Genre: Archangel Gabriel (Supernatural), BAMF Hermione Granger, British Men of Letters (Supernatural) Being Assholes, Chuck Shurley Being an Asshole, Drama, F/M, Family Secrets, Fighting The Darkness (Supernatural), Fluff, Humor, Kidnapping, MACUSA | Magical Congress of the United States of America, Prankster Gabriel (Supernatural), Season/Series 11, Season/Series 12, Season/Series 13, Season/Series 14
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-05-17
Updated: 2020-07-15
Packaged: 2021-03-02 16:55:19
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 75,535
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24240175
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LeoLeonte/pseuds/LeoLeonte
Summary: Hermione is bored and drifting. What happens when she meets a mischievous archangel and gets roped into another round of 'saving the world'?
Relationships: Gabriel (Supernatural)/Hermione Granger
Comments: 4
Kudos: 87





	1. A wall of fluff

Patrolling the halls was either mind numbingly boring or so eventful, bordering on dangerous, that she had to crash on the couch in the common room afterwards out of sheer exhaustion.

Today had been nightmarish. George had gone a little crazy on the first Hogsmeade weekend and had given half off everything to the students. He had made a killing no doubt, but the castle was completely flooded with prank items. She loved a laugh, just like the rest but it was getting way out of hand. That, and none of the kids had the same kind of style and creativity like the Weasley twins in their glory days. These kids just bought a product and followed the directions on the box. In the end, it just became boring and predictable, not to mention messy. The good thing was that she knew all the counter charms by now, so most things were easy enough to undo. That evening she had vanished three Portable Swamps, siphoned away two cases of Giggle Gas, and disarmed no less than eighty-two decoy detonators. It was pure routine and she'd honestly rather spend the evening knitting and drinking tea.

She was far too young to be thinking like that. Granted, she was one of the oldest students there, but she was still just nineteen. Aged and hardened from war, but still nineteen. She was supposed to enjoy life! That was just a bit hard, when she saw dead bodies every time, she turned a corner. Sometimes she regretted returning for her final year. If someone asked her, why she had returned, she wouldn't be able to answer. Hermione Granger was supposed to be in control, she was supposed to have a plan, but these days she was drifting, running on autopilot and autopilot for Hermione Granger meant studying.

She was so lost in thought as she went into the next classroom on her route, that she almost walked into a huge wall of golden fluff. Startled, she backpedalled a few steps, realizing that the great wall of fluff was actually a set of six wings in various golden shades. Attached to the wings was a man with light brown hair, in dire need of a trim. He was sucking on a lollipop, looking out of the window with such a gleeful expression, that she was momentarily distracted. He was clearly an adult, but he looked so carefree and childish, and she envied him.

She leaned against the doorway, observing him a little. He was staring out of the window as a scene unfolded with a quite significant amount of dung bombs and some seventh year Gryffindors who she knew had been bullying first year Slytherins. She found it hard to pity her house mates. After a while, she decided to address him.

"Those wings make quite the fashion statement." She told him, with a lifted eyebrow. The deer in the headlights expression on his face was priceless, and she felt her mouth tugging ever so slightly into a smile.

His surprised expression turned into a frown, and he ruffled his wings, unsuccessfully trying to hide them behind his back.

"You aren't supposed to see those!" he practically growled at her after taking out the lollipop.

"Why not? Is it a transfiguration accident? If it helps your embarrassment, I was once turned into a cat for about a week." She tried and shrugged, studying the wings from a distance, admiring the way they shimmered in different tones of gold.

He looked at her indignant and confused. "No! These babies are not accidental, or any kind of statement! They are, however, supposed to be invisible, so how in the fiery pits of hell, can you see them?" He continued incredulously in a horribly American accent.

"Well, they are honestly hard to miss. How did you even get through the door, with those?" She wondered, walking closer to him.

The man looked at her like she was an idiot and crossed his arms defensively, but answered nonetheless

"They're metaphysical, so that isn't really a problem." He ground out defensively.

"They're beautiful." She whispered in awe, reaching out her hand. He shivered, as her fingers ran down one of the large feathers. He suddenly turned around, so the wings were out of her reach. He gave her a slow once over, that made her feel incredibly naked

"Well, missy. The same thing could be said about you." He said, stalking towards her with the grace of a feline. She gulped. She knew she was in trouble, in more ways than once. He was an immensely powerful man, if he was even human, which she very much doubted by now. But the way he was smirking at her, as if she were some kind of dessert, waiting to be gobbled up, made butterflies the size of eagles soar around in her stomach.

She looked up, at met his eyes, and they were incredible. She had never seen anything like them, like a kaleidoscope of gold and green, and they confirmed her thoughts; He was most _definitely_ not human.

With the speed of light, he grabbed her, and in less than the blink of an eye, they were somewhere else, that definitely wasn't Hogwarts. It looked like a living room, and a very opulent one of those. She looked around in wonder, at the forest green wallpaper and the furniture, all covered in leaf gold, and cream-colored fabric, that looked impossibly soft.

"Now, what are you, girl." He growled and released her.

"What do you mean, what am I? You're the one with the wings - what are you?"

"What am I? How rude!"

"You just asked me that exact same question!" Hermione shrieked.

"Fine." The man huffed. "Just give me your name."

"Hermione." She said, crossing her arms.

"Now, species?"

Hermione rolled her eyes "Well, I'm a witch, but you ought to know that, since you were at Hogwarts school of _witchcraft_ and wizardry."

"Oh no, Honey, you're much more, than just a witch." He intoned and started circling her like a vulture.

Hermione scrunched her eyebrows in bewilderment. "I'm quite sure I'm just a witch. A pretty powerful one, if I'm being immodest though." She said, blushing.

He smiled at her in a way that could only be described as predatory "I don't mind immodesty at all, Gorgeous" he said with an eyebrow waggle.

Hermione was getting whiplash from this guy's change in moods, and she blushed even more at the innuendo. She cleared her throat

"Your turn."

"Just call me Gabriel" he frowned.

"And species?" She imitated him.

Gabriel pursed his lips "Try to guess - we'll make it a game, every time you get it wrong, you lose some clothes" he winked at her and threw himself on the nearest sofa.

"Are you out of your mind?" Hermione hissed scandalized

"Yeah, probably" he shrugged. "But it's the only way you're going to know" He winked at her.

She huffed "Not a chance"

"Aw, come on! What's a guy got to do to get a little action here? Where's the fun in you?"

"I'm plenty of fun" she retorted.

"Oh yeah? Where? In your knee socks?" he smirked, making her stick her tongue out at him. He stared hungrily, as the pink little thing came out between her lips.

"Now, that was immature. I approve."

"I won't ask, then. Either way, you're not a wizard. It's impossible to apparate or disapparate within Hogwarts grounds" Hermione sniffed. "Where are we anyway?" She asked, looking around in search of an exit.

"Let's just call it my nest, shall we?" Gabriel purred.

Hermione gave him a deadpan look. "Great. I've been captured by a bloody bird" She grumbled. Gabriel snapped his fingers, and suddenly her knee socks were missing.

"That wasn't a guess! Give them back!"

"Nope. Even if it wasn't a guess, I would still keep them because of your cheek."

"Take me back to Hogwarts. Now. I have to finish my rounds anyways" Hermione huffed.

Gabriel rolled his eyes "Rounds, wow. Good times." Hermione just scowled at him.

"Fine" He sighed. He grabbed her around the waist, and she closed her eyes. they reappeared in the same classroom they had left from. She slowly opened her eyes, to find him staring intently at her, with those impossible eyes, and before she knew it, he was kissing her. One of his hands found its way to the back of her neck, tangling itself in her hair, the other stayed at her lower back, pressing her closer. She sighed as her eyes fluttered closed and she felt his tongue move against her lips. She slowly opened her mouth, letting him in. He tasted like the lollipop he had eaten when she found him – she had always loved cherry.

He broke the kiss and smirked at her dazed expression.

"Laters" He winked at her and disappeared with a whoosh.

Hermione stomped her foot petulantly. She didn't know what had gotten into her. That was _not_ the way she was supposed to behave. Hermione Granger was _logical_ , always processing everything before taking a decision. Letting some guy kiss her, not even knowing what bloody species he was, just wasn't even sane.

Even if he was handsome, and charming and an amazing kisser.

She sighed to herself. She would probably wake up in a moment. Only dreams were that surreal.

…

What. The. Hell, Gabriel thought to himself. He had gotten so flustered, that he almost landed in the kitchen sink.

Nothing about that entire situation was possible. He was deep undercover again, hiding from the Win-sisters and Cassie, and then this chick shows up! Albeit a hot, young, British chick in a perfectly pressed school uniform, with matching knee socks…

Back on track, Gabriel!

Hotness aside – she could see his wings, which wasn't supposed to be possible, unless she was an archangel at the very least, and he really couldn't see himself being that attracted to any of his brothers. He would have been able to recognise them too.

She was powerful, that was for sure, but she wasn't an angel, and he was quite sure she wasn't a demon, she was too hot for that (no pun intended) but then what was she?

He went into his living room and threw himself on the couch, deciding to put off the mystery of her species, in favour of more exciting thoughts. He smirked, thinking about her red cheeks as he pulled out the knee socks from his pocket. He should have taken another clothing item instead. He thought about the kiss he had given her, which had thrown him completely off kilter. That had been stupid – he still didn't know if she was a threat, and either way, he wasn't supposed to get all twisted and moony eyed over some girl, who may or may not be human. He was supposed to be a smart, self-preservationist. Fooling around with some girl, not knowing anything about her, was the opposite of that. Then again, didn't he always fool around with people he didn't know? Difference was that she knew something about him, that could potentially be disastrous for him, if she were to tell the wrong people.

He frowned to himself, making a decision.

…

Her room was pretty neat, he had to admit. Not as luxurious as the warehouse he had turned into his own home, but hers was in a castle, which was so much cooler. Location, location, location. Of course, living in a castle would defy the purpose of laying low.

He felt a bit like a creep, as he stood, observing her as she slept in her bed, but figured it would be worth it. Hopefully, Stockholm Syndrome would kick in fast.

He touched her forehead gently, pushing her into a deeper sleep. Then he picked her up, bridal style, and brought her home.

He stood for a while in his living room, not knowing what to do. He could probably have planned this better. It would be presumptuous to put her in his own bed, right? In the end he gave in and put her gently down on the couch.

He crouched in front of her face, studying it. "What the hell are you?" he whispered. He had been right about her being beautiful, it wasn't just some fake flattery, which he was otherwise an expert in giving, in order to get people and other things to sleep with him or at least convince them not to kill him.

Her skin was light and silky smooth, with rosy cheeks. What fascinated him the most, were her lips, which reminded him of rose petals from the Garden in Heaven itself. Her eyes were beautiful too, he knew, even if he couldn't see them at the moment – brown like his favourite chocolate, infused with caramelly golden flecks. He was close to slapping himself for waxing poetry like that, even if it was only in his own mind.

Her eyes were starting to move underneath her eyelids, either from dreaming or waking up. He felt tempted to take a peek at her dreams but ended up panicking.

What the hell had he been thinking, bringing her here? She was going to be uber pissed! And then what was he supposed to do with her? Tie her to a chair? While tying her up seemed very tempting in several scenarios, it might not be the best call if he wanted her to collaborate.

Caught up in his own internal ranting, he hadn't realized, that big brown eyes were already staring at him.

Hermione was watching, as hundreds of expressions flittered over Gabriel's during his obviously conflicted internal monologue. He wasn't supposed to be there, when she woke up – he was supposed to be a dream. Slowly she realized her location - she was lying on the couch she had admired the day before. She frowned.

"Why am I here?" She ground out, trying to keep her temper in check. The deer in the headlights-thing was cute as ever, but at the moment it served more to annoy her.

"Um, I can explain…" He trailed off.

"Yes?" She asked expectantly.

"Well, why don't we have a cup of tea or something? You Brits love that, right?" He deflected, to Hermione's frustration. He moved to sit on the couch opposite her and snapped his fingers. A full English tea set appeared on the coffee table, complete with scones, cream puffs and little sandwiches, making Hermione lose her breath.

"How did you do that?" She asked shakily. His only reply was a smirk

"No one can produce food out of thin air. It's one of the five Principal Exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration, so how did you do it?" She growled, glaring at him.

"Well, Sweetheart, that brings us back to our original discussion. What am I?" He smirked at her deviously, eyeing her cupcake pyjamas.

"I'm not playing your game." She sneered at him.

"Fine, be like that. I'm an angel – an archangel, specifically." Gabriel rolled his eyes at her, giving her a little mock salute.

She gave him a deadpan look "Right, and I happen to be a mermaid."

He glared at her, ruffling his wings behind him, stretching them to their full span. It seemed as if all the oxygen had left the room, everything around them went darker, except for Gabriel and his wings, which shone brightly.

"Alright. Angel." Hermione gulped.

Suddenly the air returned to the room, and Gabriel was back to smirking at her, leaning against the couch. She was again fascinated by his wings, and the way they seemed to go through the couch rather than getting squished behind him. She shook herself out of it. "That still doesn't explain why I'm here."

Gabriel sighed "I'm kind of in hiding. You, seeing those babies back there, really isn't normal. I'm trying to figure out how it's possible. I spent _millennia_ in hiding among primordial deities, and they never suspected a thing. So, what makes _you_ so special?" He booped her nose.

"I'm not really special. I'm just a normal witch, a bit more powerful than average, but I prefer to think, that it comes from hard work." She replied, bewildered.

"Hard work? Are you for real?” Gabriel scoffed. “Power is power, either you have it, or you don't. Hard work is totally overrated if you ask me."

"Well, not all of us can just snap our fingers and have everything, some of us have to follow the rules." Hermione huffed.

Gabriel lifted an eyebrow "Except, something tells me you're not above breaking them from time to time, am I right?"

"Well, if I could produce food out of thin air, I would definitely have had a better time last year." She mumbled to herself.

That's when Gabriel noticed the other things, that her beauty had masked before. The clavicle that was a little too pronounced, the small scar on her throat and the way that she seemed to curl in on herself, her eyes subtly darting around, looking for exits that weren't there. That girl had been through hell, metaphorically at the very least. What had happened to her?

"Back on track." She interrupted his musings "Still doesn't explain, why you felt the need to _kidnap me in the middle of the night_ " Her tone got increasingly angry.

Gabriel rubbed his face. "I can't have you going around, blabbing to everyone that you saw a dude with wings, especially a triple set."

"Well, excuse you! I most definitely do not blab!" She exclaimed, indignant.

"All the same. I also worry, that you might need protection.” He continued. “If you can see those wings, who knows what else you can see? Demon faces? Fricking God? You know how many would want to get a piece of that action?"

"I can take care of myself just fine." She ground out.

"Oh yeah?" He asked, and swift as lightning, he had her pinned to the couch.

She looked like she was just about to fight back but relented and glowered at him. "Fine." She conceded, but Gabriel had a feeling that she probably _could_ defend herself, at least against mortal opponents.

"Plus, I also thought you might need a bit of fun. You definitely seem tired of that stick you have, sitting in your ass." He shrugged, still pinning her underneath him.

She scrunched up her nose. "Must you be so crude?" She sniffed, making Gabriel laugh out loud as he released her.

"Oh, I'm going to have fun, corrupting you! Let's go." He stated maniacally, taking her hand to pull her up.

"Go where? I'm still in my pyjamas." Hermione pointed out.

"Oh, right." Gabriel looked down with a lewd smirk, and with a snap of his fingers, Hermione found herself in a school uniform, similar to the one she had worn the day before, with the exception, that the skirt was considerably shorter and several of the shirt buttons that were supposed to be at the top were missing.

Gabriel grinned at her disgruntled expression. "Showtime!"


	2. Should I stay or should I go?

When Hermione opened her eyes, they were standing outside a bar. She looked down at her uniform. "I don't think I should be wearing this." She said.

"You're right" Gabriel whispered next to her left ear "I too, would totally prefer you naked, but that might also be frowned upon."

Hermione really couldn't tell, if he was joking or not, and she gave him a deadpan look. "Where is my wand, by the way?"

"Oh, the stick? You don't need that right now." He waved his hand dismissively at her.

"It's not a stick, it's a wand, and I need it to do magic, and I need it right now!" She exploded in outrage. Gabriel rolled his eyes, and with a snap of his fingers, she was dressed in a mini-skirt that would definitely show off her knickers should she bend over the slightest bit, heels she was certain she wouldn't be able to walk in and a shirt that had way more ruffles than should be possible considering its tiny size. At least she also had her wand in her hand, but Gabriel grabbed her by the arm, and pulled her inside with him, before she could fix her clothes. She gave him a disgruntled look and he snapped his fingers, producing a handbag. Hermione looked around suspiciously.

"You can't just do that around muggles!" she hissed at him.

He rolled his eyes so hard, she was worried he might see his own brain.

"Puh-lease. People see, what they want to see. Now put the stick in the handbag. We are looking for someone." Hermione looked around, bewildered. She wasn't sure she wanted to look for anyone in there. The bar was filled to the brim, with bikers and greasy looking old men with dirty clothes and beer gut.

Gabriel smirked and pointed out the vilest looking of them all. He had a mean, but stupid look, that reminded her of the late Vincent Crabbe, and he was so dirty, that his fingers made greasy, sticky imprints on his glass.

"That's the guy." Gabriel's smirk evolved into a devious smile.

"I am _not_ going over there." Hermione protested.

"Don't worry, sweetheart, you aren't going anywhere, but I'll give you a little backstory. I've been undercover before, but the problem is that it gets boring real fast. I acknowledge, that besides belonging to the actual species, I am no angel, metaphorically, but if there's something I hate, it's jerks and bullies, and I like to give them a little payback. Just desserts you might say."

"So what, you're like some kind of avenging angel then?"

"Nah, that sounds way too righteous, and also a little too smite-y for me. I pull pranks – most of them even survive." Gabriel explained.

Hermione looked horrified.

"Most of them?"

"Well, yeah. Accidents happen etc. and then there are also some types that just shouldn't be roaming the streets. I just give them a little push in the right direction. I thought we could start out small – this guy is just your garden variety douchebag. Almost every night, he gets drunk, and then he goes out to pee, where the homeless people sleep, around the corner from here, mostly not caring if he pees on people or the wall."

"Wow. That's quite revolting. And what, you beat him up or something?"

"What? No! What kind of guy do you take me for? I'm more into the poetic kind of justice, getting creative. What do you think – incontinence or do we lock him in a port-a-potty?" He asked, waggling his eyebrows.

Hermione tried to remain serious, but she couldn’t help a laugh "Port-a-potty. Definitely port-a-potty."

He grinned and snapped his fingers. The man suddenly stood with a pained expression, and walked out the door in fast steps.

Gabriel grabbed Hermione by the arm, and they were suddenly standing outside, where the man was peeing on some blankets in a corner. Gabriel narrowed his eyes and snapped his fingers, making a filthy looking port-a-potty appear behind the man. Hermione wrinkled her nose and drew her wand, and when the guy turned around, she cast a tripping jinx, making him fall, face first into the toilet bowl.

"Nice one" Gabriel commented approvingly. A few fixes later, the locked port-a-potty was standing in the man's own living room, and Hermione and Gabriel were back in Gabriel's kitchen, eating chocolate cake and laughing till their bellies ached.

"So, is this all you do? Pranking people?" Hermione asked, wiping away a stray tear.

"What do you mean, all I do? I'll have you know, that this is an honorable vocation." Gabriel told her, swinging around a dessert spoon for effect, sprinkling Hermione with crumbs and frosting.

"Well" She started carefully. "You told me you were in hiding – who are you hiding from?" She asked, taking his hand and giving it a squeeze. When he didn’t respond immediately, she tried to backtrack “you don’t have to tell me or anything if you don’t want to of course. I'm just curious.”

Later, Gabriel would swear to himself, that it had been because he had been high on chocolate, but at the moment, he thought that if she could see his wings, she already had power over him to sell him out, easily. She might as well know the rest.

"Mostly, I just want to be alone, you know? You have any siblings?" She shook her head. "Lucky you" He mumbled. "I have these brothers. You probably read the Bible or you were told things from someone who read it, or you saw some kind of movie, that had angels in it, or whatever."

"What, you mean you aren't a woman played by Tilda Swinton?" She asked teasingly.

"Well, I can be. I just prefer to be this guy. I think that fits my personality more." He winked at her

"So, your brothers?"

"Yeah. At first it was just us. Me, Raphael, Michael, Lucifer and Dad of course. And then there was Aunt Amara, who we had to lock up, because she tried to eat the world. Lucifer was smart, even if he was a bit of a jackass, and Michael was always kind of self-righteous. Raphael was quiet, I suppose. He always had something to read or to fix. I was always the prankster. Everything was great at first, but then dad created the humans. Lucifer was jealous, because you took dad's attention. We were too, honestly but Lucifer got aggressive about it, so dad had Michael throw him in a cage in the deepest part of hell."

"That's horrible" Hermione whispered. "To play out brothers against each other like that is just horrible"

Gabriel smiled gently at her. "I thought so too, and after that, dad left. After Lucifer was thrown in the cage, no other angel dared to rebel. Michael followed dad's orders, or at least, what he imagined they would have been, had he been there. In the end, things just turned more and more sour, so eventually I left too. I couldn't take it, so I ran away."

"So it's Raphael and Michael left in – uh, Heaven?"

"It's a lot more complicated than that. Us four were just the Archangels, but there are millions of other angels out there, like Cherubs or Seraphs and stuff." Gabriel smiled, thinking about a certain little Seraph he knew, who had a penchant for trouble.

Hermione sat, listening in fascination.

"Anyhow, There are no Archangels in Heaven anymore. As I understand it, it's more of a strange sort of democracy up there these days."

"Then what happened to Michael and Raphael?"

"That, my fair maiden is a story for another day." Gabriel said, grabbing Hermione close. When she opened her eyes, they were standing in his bedroom. She folded her arms across her chest.

"No."

"Aw, come on! Can't blame a guy for trying." He winked at her. "Just, I dunno – make yourself comfortable. I'll stay on the couch or something."

Hermione hesitated. She could tell, there was something he wasn't telling her, but he had woken her up in the middle of the night, and she was knackered. Luckily it was the weekend, but she still had to get back to Hogwarts and ready for classes on Monday She still wasn't convinced it wasn't all a dream.

In the end, the decision was made for her, as Gabriel placed two fingers on her forehead, making her fall asleep. He caught her before she fell and picked her up, bridal style and tucked her in after transfiguring her clothes back to her original cupcake pajamas. He smiled gently and kissed her forehead. He stood back to look at her, as she was sleeping.

He was way too old for her, by several billion years, in fact, but that didn't stop that heart, that he wasn't supposed to have, from beating a little harder around her. She was different, he supposed, it seemed like he couldn't hide anything from her. First the wings, now the verbal diarrhea – what the hell was happening?

He went in the living room to stay on the couch – not to sleep, but to think.

…

Hermione woke up feeling more well rested than she had since before the war. Since ever if she was being honest with herself.

The sheets were perfect, silky soft but with the smell of fresh air, like it had been hung to dry in the sun on a summer day. Not the rags they had at Hogwarts, that were scratchy and smelled like the dungeons.

She opened her eyes and sat up in the bed, with her heart pounding. Her sheets were supposed to be scratchy, so why weren't they?

That's when everything came back to her. The wings, the angel, the guy and the port-a-potty. She hid her face in her hands. What she had done was basically muggle baiting, which was illegal for a good reason. If the ministry found out, she was going to have her wand snapped, for sure. She wondered, why she hadn't received a letter already

She got out of bed in order to find the exit, but realized there were no doors and the window was bolted shut, even though she suspected it was just a decoration anyways. She couldn't find her wand either, so she was basically helpless. Trying to keep herself from panicking, she started searching the walls for signs of a hidden door, but found none. She was about to check out the window, when Gabriel appeared behind her, making her scream.

"Well, good morning to you too, sweetheart" he winked at her cheekily.

"There is nothing good about it." Hermione huffed. "What we did yesterday was horrible, and I have to get back. Either take me there or at least give me my wand, so I can apparate to Hogsmeade." she said shakily, not daring to look him in the eye.

"Okaay. I think we need to talk about this. Eugh, I'm not very good at that, so bear with me. So, you think what we did yesterday was bad – why?"

" We'll, we locked a man in a – a port-a-potty! How is that not bad?"

"Well, if you take it out of context, I suppose it does sound a bit douche-y. But on the other hand, think about what he had been doing, and would continue to do if we hadn't done it. You know the police wouldn't do a thing. It was justice served, and I just so happen to think it was hilarious!"

"Justice isn't supposed to be funny" she huffed. "I have to go back."

Gabriel winced "I know this is going to sound horrible, but I can't let you do that."

"What?" Hermione snapped.

"I thought you understood that. I can't let you go. It would be too dangerous for the both of us. If they capture you, doesn't matter if it's the angels or the demons or the Winchesters, they _will_ torture you."

"So what. There's nothing new about that, and I didn't talk last time." She grumbled, crossing her arms defensively.

Gabriel looked crestfallen. "You would rather be tortured than stay around me?"

Hermione sighed. "That's not what I mean. I mean that I have to get back"

"Have to or want to?" Gabriel narrowed his eyes at her.

"I don't know. I just should." She looked down

“Should you? Seriously? You know, it honestly sounds like you don't really want to, and I think you would like it here. Anything you want, anything you need - we could conjure it up. I promise, everything I create is real."

She looked at him sceptically "And you really think those people would find me?"

Gabriel raised a hand to caress her cheek, but she flinched and he put it down. Instead, he took both her hands in his and pulled her closer, resting her own forehead against hers.

"You know I don't know what you've been through exactly, but I can tell that it's been hell for you. I could read your mind easily, but I'll wait until you want to tell me yourself. All I can tell you, is that you'll be safe with me and free from any expectations. I'll promise you tons of fun, and I'll wait on you hand and foot. Don't tell me it doesn't sound tempting."

Hermione sighed "It does, but I don't know. I can't just up and leave."

"Of course you can."

"But they might need me." she tried

"Nah. They can deal with their own problems" he waved her off.

She giggled "Ron couldn't find his way out of a paper bag. I always help him, he even sends me his auror reports to correct."

"Then, isn't he a bit of a douchebag? You're not his mother, Hermione. Maybe they need to grow up." He pointed out, hating the irony. Because wasn’t that exactly what his own father had done?

She lifted her head, biting her lower lip, which drove him a little bit crazy.

"Maybe you're right. I can't do it forever." She sighed.

"I _am_ right, aren't I? Maybe just send them a note, that you're out travelling or something. Just don't mention any angel-stuff, okay?" He pulled her into an embrace, grinning victoriously.

"This is the most insane thing I have ever done." She laughed.

"Great! Now how about breakfast?" Gabriel snapped his fingers and two trays appeared on nightstands next the bed.

Hermione grinned and slid back under the covers. Gabriel jumped onto the bed, his wings flapping happily behind him.– she could get used to this.

"Um, Gabriel, why is there chocolate sauce on everything?"

"Because it's chocolate sauce, duh. Everyone likes chocolate sauce."

"It's on my eggs and bacon…"

…

Hermione was finishing up the last of the letters. Gabriel had conjured a beautiful desk for her, in mahogany with leaf gold trimming. He was now working on her wardrobe, which she was sure she was going to regret.

Writing the letters had been surprisingly easy. She wrote, that she needed a break, that she needed to find herself after the war, neither of which were lies. She wrote that she was going to travel with a friend, that she would try to be in touch, but would make no promises, as it might be hard for owls to reach her. She promised Harry, she would get a cell phone though. Something she was sure Ron would have difficulty operating.

When she was done, she wanted to ask Gabriel to deliver them for her, but she couldn't go find him, because she was stuck in the small library he had made for her.

"Gabriel!" She yelled instead.

"You hollered" He replied, as he appeared behind her.

"We really need to talk about some doors in this place."

"Huh. You're right. I just never really needed them." He snapped his fingers, and the rooms were finally interconnected.

"Do you think you could deliver these for me? I don't think I can face them."

"No probs, Princess" He winked at her and disappeared in a flurry of wings.

She couldn't help but smile to herself. She decided to make use of the doors, to finally learn the layout of the place. She found the bedroom she had stayed in easily, but realized it was still the only bedroom in the house – she would need to talk to him about that. She also really needed to talk to him about that wardrobe. Everything was there, in fabrics from fine silk, to spandex and canvas, but the common denominator was, that everything was too small and short in all the wrong places, in her own opinion.

She peeked into the underwear drawer only to promptly slam it shut again, blushing profusely. That was a lot of lace. And latex. And leather. And hand-cuffs.

…

Gabriel was fast to deliver the letters, Harry Potter, the Weasleys. He paused, when he came to Ronald Weasley though. He peeked at the letter and a devious smile spread on his face.

He appeared in an empty office, which was filthy beyond belief. Old boxes with what might have been some sort of junk food once, papers strewn on the desk and the floor, even old socks in one corner. He took the dirty clothes of the chair and threw them on the floor, sitting down and put his feet on the desk, kicking down some paper in the process.

It wasn't long before the owner of the office came in, eating the most disgusting sandwich he had ever seen, dressing dripping down his front.

"Wow." He exclaimed "She really wasn't kidding, you really can't find your way out of a paper bag."

The sloppy redhead looked up, bewildered.

"Hiya big guy. I'm sorry to say, buddy, but she's really not that into you. Now, I'm taking Hermione on a vacation, so stop sending her your homework. Laters." He flicked the letter at the face of the guy he now knew to be Ronald and disappeared with a 'Whoosh'


	3. Being human/What's worth fighting for?

After fixing her wardrobe and getting dressed, Hermione continued her exploration. The pantry was atrocious – nothing but candy.

Now she was finally starting to gain some weight, but she had been adamant on doing it the right way – with lots of vegetables and protein. That, plus a lot of vitamin-supplements to make up for what she hadn't had access to during the war but from what she had seen from his habits, she was sure Gabriel would put an end to her diet in no time.

Thinking of the angel, she heard a flurry of wings behind her.

"Why is it, that you always appear behind me, and not in front?"

"Well Honey, that's for me to know and you not to find out." She could almost hear the smirk in his voice.

He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her around to face him.

"We need to go shopping." She declared to him, pointing at the pantry.

"But I can conjure anything you want." He looked at her confusedly.

"Well, yes, but I prefer to go to a store, to see all the produce, to feel it in my hands and decide for myself, which is the best." She looked at him with those big brown eyes he couldn't resist.

"Jeez, control freak much?" He rolled his eyes and she pouted at him. "Fine! We'll go."

"Yes! I mean, this place is great and all, but I imagine I would get stir-crazy, only staying here all day."

He nodded to himself, biting his lip. "In that case, there's something I need to do, and neither of us are going to like it." She had never seen his face look so serious.

"Like what?" She asked carefully, not sure if she really wanted to know.

"This place is warded completely. I'm the only angel in or out, but out there in the real world, it's not so easy. That means I have to put wards on you." He said carefully.

She looked skeptical. "Wards on me? How would that work?"

"Well, it's a lot of different sigils and writing in Enochian, the language of angels. It would hide you from the angels, so it would be impossible to find you. If we don't do it, they will be able to find you, easily. The most efficient way is carving it into the bones." He sighed, looking none too happy about it.

Hermione looked horrified. "You have to cut into me?!" she exclaimed, for some reason grabbing her left forearm. Again, he became curious about her backstory.

"Not exactly, no. I can just touch you and it carves itself, so to speak. It would probably hurt, but I'm not about to take a knife to you or anything. It won't leave any visible scars." He tried to placate her.

She took a deep breath to calm herself. "Do it." She ordered

"What, right now?" He looked at her bewildered.

"Yes, get it over with." She closed her eyes, steeling herself.

He pulled her close and put a hand over her heart. She cried out in agony and a lone tear trickled down her cheek. It was worse than he had expected, for the both of them. Luckily it only lasted for about a second, and she was breathing heavily afterwards. Seeing her in pain was horrible, and he could do without seeing that ever again for the rest of his life. He kissed her forehead and released her. She staggered and he supported her as they went into the living room, where they both collapsed on one of the couches.

"I left a loophole in it. Other angels won't be able to find you, but I wrote that you're under my protection, meaning that I will always be able to find you."

She laid down on the couch, putting her legs on Gabriel's lap. "Maybe we wait with shopping till tomorrow?" She suggested, wincing as she moved.

"Sure thing" Gabriel leaned back, snapping his fingers, conjuring the biggest tv-screen she had ever seen on the wall opposite the couch. He snapped his fingers again and a tray of chocolate appeared, hovering an inch above her stomach.

"How are you not ridiculously fat?" She slurred

Gabriel shrugged "Archangel metabolism, what can I say? Also, whatever calories you consume in my presence don't count. Except for the ones, you need to get to a proper weight, but after that, you're golden."

After hours of watching television, Gabriel realized Hermione had fallen asleep. He could easily snap his fingers and she would be in bed, but something about her made him feel more like doing things the human way. Like walking places or maybe even cooking stuff. Man, she even made him want to go to the grocery store.

She barely even stirred, when he scooped her up and carried her to the bedroom. He used magic to change her into pajamas – he felt she might get upset with him if he tried to do that the human way even if it was _very_ tempting, and then he tucked her in.

They might make it work, he thought as he went back in the living room to watch another movie. Half an hour in, he heard an ear-splitting scream, coming from the bedroom. Screw human ways, he thought as he teleported himself in there, in the blink of an eye.

He frowned, as he realized she was having a nightmare. He went to put a hand on her head, to 'angel' her out of it, but she grabbed his wrist as he came closer. She looked at him with those big brown eyes, and he knew he was done for.

"Stay" She whispered.

He climbed in behind her, holding her close as she fell asleep.

Oh yeah – he would make this work.

…

Over the next weeks, they fell into a sort of routine. Hermione sometimes had nightmares, and on those nights Gabriel would crawl into bed with her, holding her and staying with her through the night. Neither would say anything about it the next day. They both pretended it didn't mean anything. If he wasn't holding Hermione, Gabriel's nights were spent, knocking the high and mighty of their horses and making jerks pay their dues – Archangels don't actually need sleep, after all.

Their days were spent having fun. More often than not, Gabriel would whisk her away to a foreign country, for sightseeing and eating the desserts of the world. Hermione enjoyed those days a lot – Gabriel always had something funny to say about the assumptions that were made on history based on archeological discoveries, or small details to add.

"That is _not_ a flute, I tell you. I'll leave the rest to your imagination."

Sometimes the fun was cut short though – Gabriel spent a lot of time looking over his shoulder, and often he would invent an explanation on why they had to suddenly leave. The reason came up one day, when they were eating ice-cream.

"I think you should get a tattoo" he stated, with the spoon still in his mouth.

"What, like that?" Hermione asked, pointing at a woman bending over, showing off a particularly nasty looking tribal tattoo on her lower back.

"Aw, Hell no. It looks like her ass grew antlers" he shuddered. "No, I was thinking more like the anti-possession kind. I could probably find a bone to carve it into, but you didn't take so kindly to it when I wrote on your ribs."

"Yeah! You're right, tattoo it is – plus, it'll look cool…" she trailed off, when she saw the symbol. "A pentagram? Seriously? Oh god, what are my friends going to say?"

"I don't know. Don't you think dating an archangel might make up for the Satanist symbolism?"

"Sure, it might, if we were actually dating, and you had documentation on _not_ being certifiably insane"

Gabriel stuck his tongue out at her, but they ended up in a tattoo parlor anyways. He held her hand, smirking as she got the tattoo on her right hip.

…

More time went and he was frustrated because she was still having nightmares, and she still didn’t confide in him. One night when they were lying awake in the bed and he was holding her tight from behind after another episode, he decided to ask her outright.

“What are they about? Your nightmares?”

Hermione was quiet for a long time and he was starting to wonder if she had fallen back asleep when she sighed heavily. “They’re about a lot of things. My childhood wasn’t exactly conventional.” She tried to deflect.

“How so?” he inquired.

She turned around to look at him and she bit her lip in indecision. “When I was eleven, I started my education as a witch at Hogwarts. My childhood until then had been… difficult.” She sighed again. He could tell there was more to that story, but he didn’t press.

“I thought that Hogwarts would be different. That it would be a refuge of sorts, but instead I seemed to find myself in more and more dangerous situations. I had barely been at the school for two months when I was attacked by a mountain troll. At the end of my first year, my friends and I crossed a death maze in order to prevent a megalomaniac from obtaining a stone that would grant him immortality.”

“Wait, what the hell kind of school has a death maze?”

“Hogwarts. I just told you, please keep up.” She slapped his chest half heartedly. “Anyway. In my second year, I was petrified by a basilisk and in my third year, my defence teacher was a werewolf and we helped an escaped convict escape a death sentence by helping him evade capture on a hippogriff. Some time travel was also involved.”

“You travelled in time?” he interrupted, incredulously.

She rolled her eyes “just a bit here and there. But I made some calculations and all together, I’m actually a full year older than my official age.”

It was silly, but he felt a little better. Technically she was over 21 then. It didn’t make any difference with the age gap of a couple of eons, but at least she could order a glass of wine if he ever took her out to dinner.

“Anyways” she continued “fourth year was when everything went pear shaped. I had some uh… trouble at home and I stayed most of my holiday at a friend’s house. That was Ron by the way. He has a very large family” she remarked with fondness. “We, along with his siblings and Harry, my other friend, went to the Quidditch World Cup. It’s a wizarding sport" she added whe she saw his puzzled expression. “After the game, there was an attack, where Death Eaters marched through the campsite, setting things on fire and torturing a muggle family.”

“What are Death Eaters?”Gabriel inquired when she had gone quiet again.

She sighed again “they were a bit like Ku Klux Klan or nazi’s, I suppose. Instead of going after people of colour, they categorised people after blood status.”

“What does that even mean? Death to all B-negative?”

Hermione chuckled a little “Not really. Wizards categorise people into 5 different blood statuses. Muggles, squibs, muggleborns, halfbloods and purebloods. Muggles and squibs don't have magic. A person who has magical parents on both sides, and can trace their family back for centuries, is a pureblood.”

“Sorry, but that sounds like the exact recipe for inbreeding.” Gabriel interrupted.

She snorted. “If you saw some of them, you wouldn’t have any doubts that that was exactly what they had been doing.” She gave him a half-smile.

“Halfbloods are wizards or witches bor to one pureblooded parent and one who isn't, basically"

She paused and laid down on her back, getting lost in her own thoughts.

“Then there are the muggleborns. That’s people like me. We are born to parents with no magic whatsoever. During the war, we were hunted and prosecuted. They claimed we had stolen our magic, which is completely ridiculous. I can’t steal something I was born with.”

Gabriel took her hand and started running small circles on it with his thumb. He propped himself up on his elbow to get a better look at her face.

“The war started for real at the end of my fourth year. Or I suppose it hadn’t really stopped, it had just been on hiatus since the early 80’s. After that, it seemed that their leader, Voldemort just gained more and more power. That summer I was staying with a resistance group that had been resurrected. After that we were struggling with a government that was deeply corrupt. And the people who weren’t corrupt, were complacent and neglectful, which made it easy for then to gain control.”

She huffed in annoyance “There was this stupid prophecy that said that Harry was the one who was supposed to defeat Voldemort and the other side had only heard half of it so they were desperate to get the whole thing. It was stored at the Ministry of Magic, but it could only be retrieved by whoever it was about. At that time, they didn’t have full control yet, so Voldemort couldn’t just stroll into the ministry, so they lured Harry into a trap. I knew it was a trap, but I followed anyway because I’m an idiot. That was the first _real_ battle of the war that I participated in. We were teenagers and we went up against adults who had no problem killing children. I was injured but could just as easily have been killed. I stayed at the Order's headquarters again that summer. My old potion's teacher looked after me. We struck up a strange kind of friendship. He died at the final battle.” She sighed.

“By the time I was supposed to start my seventh year, the government was taken over fully, the leader of the resistance had been killed and rather than go back to school which had also been taken over, we went on the run. We spent the majority of the year, living in a tent, moving from place to place, trying to find some items that had given the bastard, Voldemort, immortality. We were caught and I was tortured. It was so different from anything I had ever felt before. I was so scared, but I didn’t talk. Instead, I gained a vital piece of information that brought about the end of the war. It came to a head and we won efter a great battle. We lost so many people though" her breathing hitched. “That’s what I dream about. All those empty eyes of the people we lost. I can’t help but feel like I should have done more, that I could have saved more people" she whispered wetly.

Gabriel squeezed her tighter. “It’s over now. You don’t have to fight anymore.”

Hermione gave a rueful chuckle “Of course it isn’t over, Gabriel. As old as you are, you of all people should know that. It’s only a respite until the next big bad thing comes along, and then I’ll be back fighting again. Because that’s what I do.”

She declared, and he believed her. And that scared the crap out of him. It was a long time since he had fought for anything. Maybe he should.


	4. Hermione Granger aka. Jiminy Cricket

Hermione loved staying with Gabriel. He still went out on his own little vigilante missions, but so far, she had stayed back in protest, not wanting part in the means he felt would justify the end.

It wasn't that she couldn't get his point, but the idealistic part of her mind still believed in the justice system. She was caving in soon though. There were so many jerks in the world, who got away with it because they were technically moving inside the law. Like the head cheerleader, who encouraged bullying or the gold-diggers, and don't even get her started on the animal abusers. Justice wasn't always guaranteed – the war had taught her that, after all.

"I know, that you know, that I know, that you don't like what I do, but I found someone I think you're really gonna hate." He said through a mouthful of cookies.

Hermione lifted an eyebrow in response, rather unimpressed with his eating habits.

"Two words – mink farmer"

Her eyes widened "When do we leave?" "Atta girl." He winked at her.

…

"God, it smells!" Hermione gagged as they were hit by the scent of animal feces. Gabriel smirked and booped her on the nose, and her sense of smell was dulled considerably.

"Thanks. Although, it's still disgusting. I know the smell is there, just think about the particles we're inhaling."

"Eew. Way to paint a picture." Gabriel wrinkled his nose

"So, what are we looking for?" She looked around the muddy courtyard she found herself in.

"Don't worry, you'll know it when you see it."

And indeed, she did. There was a farmhouse, where rows upon rows of cages stood, all with mink in them. Down a couple of rows stood a man, beating at one of the cages with a piece of wood.

"Quiet!” He yelled.

The mink screeched louder and the man spat on them and gave the cage one last hit, before sauntering further down the rows.

"This is horrible" Hermione whispered. Gabriel gave her hand a squeeze. "So, what do you think – skin him alive?" he suggested excitedly.

She looked at him, and was horrified, when she realized he was serious.

" _No_! We do _not_ skin people alive! What is _wrong_ with you?" She hissed at him and slapped his arm.

Gabriel just shrugged, and Hermione wondered how many people he had killed over the years. It was times like these that reminded her, that Gabriel really wasn't human at all, even if both of them seemed to forget it sometimes. That he had lived for millennia, if not billions of years. His conscience was somewhat lost, somewhere in the big picture – luckily, she had conscience to spare.

"Then, what are your great ideas?" He snarked

Hermione smirked deviously, and dammit if Gabriel didn't love that expression on her face.

"Remember first time I met you, I told you I had been transfigured into a cat?"

Gabriel smiled "I like the way you think. Accelerated hair growth – It's a little light for me, but I suppose it could be arranged."

"And then we need to get him into a better way of taking care of the animals, you know, without skinning them. We can't just release them."

"Why not?" He asked bewildered.

"Because they'll destroy the eco-system." She told him in her best professor-voice.

He rolled his eyes, but snapped his fingers anyways. He smirked, when they heard a high-pitched, very girly scream come from the farm house that had now been turned into an animal shelter. The man came running out, and Hermione broke out in laughter, when she saw, that not only was the man naked, he was covered from head to toe in lush brown fur.

...

After that, Hermione went with him almost every time he went out. She told herself it was because she was worried, how many people he might kill if she wasn't with him, but in reality, she was having fun, and seeing the jerks of the world pay their dues, was somewhat cathartic after spending most of her life being bullied and ostracized as a third range citizen.

Some “cases" were harder than others though – Gabriel had to take her back to the house, when she was about to beat up the domestic abuser in person. He had no doubt she could do it – her fighting skills were excellent- something he believed she had honed during the war. He never told her about the child molester he took care of on his own one night. Other than that, they took care of everything from school-yard bullies to corporate CEOs and in between, they discovered the world.

Gabriel added more and more things to the house, like a proper library, a fireplace, a potions lab. He even created a garden in the small pocket universe he had made inside the abandoned warehouse. Over the course of a few months it had become just as much her home as it was his, and just as promised, Gabriel waited on her hand and foot.

She still went to visit her friends and family from time to time, but the visits were fewer and further in between. They all had a hard time understanding, why she had suddenly decided to abandon everything, even her education, to live with who they thought was a random guy, especially since she couldn't really produce a decent backstory.

Ron in particular, had a hard time accepting her move. Moving in with a man she wasn't married to, apparently made her seem 'loose'. That comment had earned him a slap and if he had explosive diarrhoea for the following two months, Gabriel _definitely_ didn’t have anything to do with it.

The warehouse was situated in a small American town, which Hermione had come to love. She was insisting on living entirely like a human though, which Gabriel on some points found charming (Like baking cookies from scratch) and some idiotic (Like getting a job at a local library). She told him she needed to do something more constructive with her life, that having a job would be important to her sense of self, and that she needed to see other people.

They didn't talk for a couple of days, when she made that decision – the only thing Gabriel seemed to have heard was 'see other people'. She told him he was being a baby and in the end, he caved. He still monopolized most of her time, after all, and he made sure to scare off any male suitor. He wasn't jealous or anything – _definitely_ not jealous and not possessive at all. He was not so secretly ecstatic when she started doing research projects from home. She wrote books and papers and experimented away. He had to create a whole new little pocket universe for her to use as a lab, when she had almost exploded half the house.

They were still dancing around each other. Being a little too intimate to be just friends, but not having crossed the line to become something more.

She tried to convince him to hunt the people in need of payback away from their town, but then Gabriel said he had a special sense for douche-baggery and that he couldn't help himself when it tingled. Even if she laughed, when Mr. Roberts' hair turned permanently pink, she tried to explain him that he would get them in trouble eventually.

And trouble did come knocking one day. Or rather it came, kicking down the door.

…

Gabriel was lounging on the couch with a tray of strawberries on the coffee table. Hermione had been trying to get him to eat healthier, and strawberry was a fruit, right? It definitely counted in his own mind, even if they were covered in chocolate. He was waiting for her to get ready for work, so he could try to persuade her not to go – it never worked, but he had to at least try. At the moment, she was singing along to the music she was listening to in the shower – he was trying very hard not to think about her standing there, naked, with water running down that lovely –

Luckily (or unluckily, depending how you look at it), that string for thought was interrupted, when the front door was slammed off its hinges. Gabriel jumped up, knocking over the tray, to look at none other than Dean Winchester, who had just entered the living room, closely followed by his brother Sam.

"Hey! Do you mind?" Gabriel hissed at them. Luckily Hermione had stopped singing. He would prefer if they didn't realize she was there, now he just hoped she would stay put.

"No, I don't, actually." Dean answered, scowling at him. "Nice digs you've got here." Sam whistled lowly, stepping further in to the living room.

"Hey, I hadn't pegged you for the reading type" Dean said, picking up a worn book from the side table "'Potioneering in the 19th century' – a real page turner that must be." He said sarcastically as he fiddled with the book mark.

Gabriel's eyes widened. "You put that down, carefully." He told Dean warningly. Dean threw the book down on the couch, making the archangel wince.

"Seriously, dude? It's a just book." Dean told him. Sam was walking around, studying the pictures on the wall with a frown. He turned around to say something, but was interrupted before he could say anything.

"Gabe? Have you seen my car keys?" A distinctly female voice called out. Dean's eyes bugged and Sam choked.

"Uh, keys are in the kitchen, sweetheart!" Gabriel yelled back at her.

"Sweetheart?" Dean mouthed at him incredulously.

Gabriel closed his eyes, willing her to just summon the keys, leave and _not_ look into the living room. Of course, luck was not on his side

"Ugh! You've made a mess of the hall. You didn't have to break the door, you can just angel your way in, and the boot prints? You're worse than a dog, seriously! Please just tell me you aren't licking your own balls in the living room. Agai-" She stopped short, taking in the 'guests' standing in the living room.

Dean was in shock. When he heard a woman's voice, he hadn't exactly known what to expect. Maybe strippers like last time. Definitely not what came down the small set of stairs. She was young, but she held herself with the grace and dignity of a woman who had been through a lot and was proud to live to tell the tale. She was wearing a light blue button down shirt, a tight black pencil skirt and black pumps that made him think of things he probably shouldn't. It was her face that took his breath away though. She was gorgeous for a lack of better word.

He was literally shaken out of his reverie, by Sam, who had picked up on the way the woman was glaring and Gabriel, who looked like he might smite the both of them at any minute

…

Hermione was furious, but to the surprise of the Winchester brothers she turned on Gabriel.

"Didn't I tell you?!" She hissed. "I told you, that you were going after people too close to home!"

"Well, you should have stopped me!" he shrugged.

"Oh, please, we both know that it really isn't my fault, when you get cocky!" She huffed

"Oh, I don't know about that, Honey." He smirked deviously and she rolled her eyes.

"Let me guess; it was the human Ken-doll?" She asked the Winchesters. Dean smiled and nodded sheepishly.

"Come on! He was pressuring teenage girls to get plastic surgery. I'd say he got what was coming to him. Some of my best work too." Gabriel argued.

"Yes, but we _live_ here, Gabriel! You don't piss, where you eat!" She yelled at him.

"Ooh, language, Hermione." Gabriel teased. "What do you two mutton heads want anyways? Help saving the world? Again?"

"You know, you could have just told us you were alive." Sam turned on the puppy dog face.

"And be on your beck and call? Hell no." Gabriel rolled his eyes.

"We searched for you. Cas searched for you."

"Castiel looked for me?" Gabriel asked, unbelievingly.

"You are his brother, after all. And he seemed pretty adamant that you were alive." Sam pointed out.

Gabriel squirmed uncomfortably. "Well yeah. He was right, obviously."

"Yeah, right." Dean snarked. "Anyways, your _dad_ wants to see you."

Hermione raised her eyebrows "Dad, as in –" She pointed upwards.

"Wait a minute – you found him?" Gabriel asked incredulously.

"More like he found us. Also, you should know, that Lucifer's out of his cage." Sam butted in.

Gabriel's eyes widened. " _Lucifer_?" He hissed. "You shitheads let _Lucifer_ out of the cage? Are you insane?"

Sam sighed "Well, technically it was Castiel. And now Lucifer is possessing him"

"What? What the hell would make him want to do that?"

"Well, maybe if another Archangel had stepped to the plate, he wouldn't have felt the need!" Dean thundered.

Gabriel raised his hands in surrender. "I take it our dear Auntie Amara is still on the loose?"

"And killing people as we speak" Sam ground out.

"She's the one you had to lock up, because she tried to eat the world before it began, right?" Hermione asked, trying to wrap her head around the situation.

"No offence, sister, but who are you, even?" Dean turned to ask her.

"You back off" Gabriel growled.

"So, this is where you've been? Shacked up with this – what are you even? Some kind of primordial goddess?"

Her eyebrows rose high on her forehead "Well, I appreciate the compliment, but no. I'm human."

"Huh. Just human?" Dean looked at her skeptically and she rolled her eyes.

"Are the details really that important to what we're doing here?" She asked him.

He narrowed his eyes. "They might be."

"Nope, not those details." Gabriel interrupted. "So, I suppose you wanted me to sign up?"

"Yeah. We need you to come with us." Sam said

"Okay, where are we going?" Hermione asked.

"Oh no, missy. You're staying put." Gabriel told her.

"The hell I am. If _you're_ going, then _I'm_ going." She argued.

"Just a second guys" Gabriel told the Winchesters and snapped his fingers, expelling them to the outside of the building.

Hermione stood, glaring at him.

He sighed. "I can't keep you safe out there. Remember? I just want to keep you safe."

Her glare turned into a reluctant smile. "I can keep myself safe, just fine. I fight, remember? It’s what I do." She whispered with a small smirk.

"That's not the point." He grumbled, looking at the ground.

"I know. But I'm coming with you, like it or not." She took his hands.

"Fine." He relented and kissed her forehead.

Hermione closed her eyes, savoring the feeling of his lips on her skin. Even such a chaste gesture made her tingle. She still didn't know what to make of him. He could be fun and flirty, but she never knew if he was serious or not. And then there were moments like these, that generally threw her off kilter. She was in big trouble, and she knew it. After all, what would an Archangel want with a human?


	5. Gifts from your parents can be a bit awkward.

"Now, as I was saying; where are we going?" Hermione asked the brothers, when she and Gabriel joined them outside the building.

"Seriously? Is she serious? She's coming?" Dean asked Gabriel incredulously.

" _She_ is standing right here, and _she_ is as serious as the heart attack you're close to getting." Hermione scowled at Dean.

Gabriel raised his hands placatingly. "Just go with it."

Sam looked at Hermione appreciatively. "We didn't introduce ourselves. I'm – "

"Sam Winchester, yes, and that's Dean, I imagine" Hermione interrupted with a teasing smile.

"And you are?" Sam asked her.

"Hermione" She answered. He kept looking at her expectantly, but she didn't give any more information.

Dean nodded, and gestured silently at the car.

"Do we have to drive?" Gabriel whined. Hermione rolled her eyes as she noticed his wings twitching irritably. "Just get in the car, Gabe." She sighed.

…

The drive was awkward to say the least. Dean kept sneaking glances at Hermione through the rearview mirror. In the end, curiosity got the best of him.

"How old are you?" He asked her.

"Why?” She asked him without missing a beat.

"Aren't you a little young to be hanging around this guy?" he frowned.

She smiled amusedly. "I believe old and young are quite relative terms in this context, don't you think? By age, _everyone_ is too young to be hanging around with this guy, as you say." She said, gesturing at Gabriel, who was frowning. "Maturity wise, I believe I'm probably older than him. I estimate Gabriel to be around fifteen or so, most of the time." She turned around and winked at Gabriel who shrugged, having to concede her point.

Dean pursed his lips, and the car fell silent. Gabriel met Dean's eyes in the rearview mirror and gave him a little eyebrow waggle, just to rile him up. It was a great pastime, really.

He put his arm around Hermione's shoulder and drew her close, burying his nose in her hair. It wasn't until now, as they were sitting in the silence that filled the car, that he realized, that he was on his way, to see his father, who he hadn't seen in millennia. His father, who had a lot to answer for. And then there was Lucifer, who was a whole different can of worms. He would be lying if he said he wasn't nervous.

…

They reached their destination faster than Gabriel had anticipated. Fearsome archangel as he might be, he still held Hermione's hand in an iron grip, careful that he didn't crush her bones.

"Why don't you and little miss jail bait go and find yourselves a room? Then we'll go get some lunch." Dean said I the fakest cheerful tone Hermione had ever heard. She made a face at him, as he and Sam locked them in the bunker to let them explore on their own.

The bunker was much classier, than what Gabriel had come to expect from the brothers.

"This place is beautiful!" Hermione exclaimed. She left him on the mezzanine and ran down the stairs, taking in the décor. She ran a hand along the light table with the world map before sighing happily when she entered the library.

"What we have at home is amazing, but this has style" She winked at Gabriel, who smirked at her.

"I can give you an exact copy, you know that, right?" He asked, leaning against one of the columns, pulling out a candy bar as she crouched to browse the books on the bottom shelves.

"As I said – This place has style, but it isn't home." She looked at him with a gentle smile, and that heart he wasn't supposed to have beat a bit harder again.

He went to a chair and plopped down in it and placed his feet on the table, boots and all. Out of habit, Hermione cast a wandless scourgify. She long since given up on lecturing him about manners.

She had been working on her wandless skills ever since she started living with Gabriel, under his strange tutelage. In the end, he was partially right – power was power and the power didn't come from the wand. She still believed in hard work though she imagined Gabriel had probably forgotten about the concept along the way.

"Ooh! Is that a telescope?" She asked rhetorically, and ran over to check the settings.

That's how the brothers found them. Hermione bent over at the telescope and Gabriel leaning as far back in the chair as he could, to check out her ass.

Dean cleared his throat loudly, making Gabriel fall. Gabriel made a face at Dean and snapped his fingers. In the blink of an eye, he was sitting in another chair looking suave as ever.

"You know how to operate that thing?" Sam asked Hermione curiously.

"Oh yes. I studied astronomy for almost seven years." She smiled at him. "You've got your settings on this all mixed up, but I'll fix it for you."

"So, how did you two even meet?" Dean asked gruffly, opening a pizza box.

Hermione and Gabriel looked at each other in silent communication.

"Well, long story short; I was at a private boarding school in Scotland, when Gabriel showed up. I was bored and he may or may not have kidnapped me, but in the end, I decided to move in with him. These days I work at a library and when I'm not at work, I try to keep this guy from killing too many people." She told the brothers as a matter of fact. Dean and Sam both looked equally disturbed.

Dean was about to say something, when Chuck walked into the room with a large smile on his face. Gabriel stood up straight.

"Gabriel! And I see you found Hermione."

Hermione frowned, less stars struck than she probably ought to be.

The last time Gabriel had seen his dad, he had still been awe inspiring, but now those rose-tinted glasses had been cracked with bitterness and Chuck was far less impressive than God.

Gabriel clenched his jaw.

"Dad."

"It's good to see you, both. Come on, take a seat." Chuck sat down and grabbed a slice of Dean's pizza and took his beer. Hermione went to sit next to Gabriel, who sat grinding his teeth.

"So. _Dad_. Fancy seeing you here."

Chuck sighed. "Gabriel. Can we not? Can't we just eat right now?"

If they had been corporeal, Hermione was sure she would have been knocked over by Gabriel's wings, which were suddenly spread out in display of his anger. She ducked as a reflex, triggering the hunter's reflexes in Sam and Dean, who stood up in the blink of an eye, pointing loaded guns at the exit.

"Put those guns down, there's no threat." Chuck told them.

Dean and Sam looked at Chuck and Hermione bewildered, but slowly sat down, putting away the guns.

"Fine, Gabriel, we'll talk." Chuck sighed and waved a hand, banishing Hermione and the Winchesters to the kitchen.

…

"Look Gabriel, I'm sorry. You're probably the one I owe the biggest apology to." Chuck started. Gabriel laughed bitterly.

"Yeah? Why is that? I was never anyone special. I was never your favorite, and I wasn't meant to lead, like Michael or Raphael. I was the freaking messenger boy, and the prankster. But then you left, and God wasn't sending out any messages anymore, so I was out of a job. My brothers fought, until my ears bled, and then I left – just like you did." He shrugged dismissively.

"You're wrong. You are special, Gabriel. Possibly the most special of the archangels, but you don't see it. Why is that?" Chuck questioned.

Gabriel snorted. "You really need to ask? You never noticed me, and I never did anything right. No matter what I did. I was even acting properly serious, when I had to tell Mary you had knocked her up. Man, that was awkward." He groaned, leaning back in his chair.

Chuck winced.

"Maybe you're right, and I'm sorry. I was too blatant in my favoritism of Lucifer and I'm sorry for neglecting you."

Gabriel sighed. "That wasn't the worst part and you know it, dad. You left us with nothing." He mumbled bitterly.

Chuck pursed his lips "That's not true. The humans weren't the only ones I created in my image, you know. If you worked together, you archangels would have had the power equivalent to me. You are all powerful in your own right, but each of you represent a part of me. Michael is the governor – the ruler, you might say. Raphael was the thinker, the one to fix things. Lucifer was the destroyer, but you, most importantly are the creator. You create the most amazing things. You can create entirely separate timelines and pocket universes! You are possibly the most special one, because anyone can destroy, anyone can think, anyone can rule – but not that many can create." He pointed out

"You never really approved of what I create, though." Gabriel grumbled, looking down.

"Well, sometimes, you haven't been the most responsible one, but recently, you have created some pretty cool stuff. You've created a home, haven't you?" Chuck smirked, and Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him.

"Speaking of which - I wanted to talk with you, about Hermione. Why can she see my wings? What is she?"

" _Her_? She's your own" He looked at his son expectantly, like he was waiting for him to get the joke.

"Her? My own? What are you… wait a minute. Her name is a pun? You made her name a fucking pun! How sick are you, dad? I mean, seriously!"

Chuck frowned at him. "I've made her for you. I figured she might make you happy."

"You can't just _give_ me a person, dad! I don't want her like that!" Gabriel thundered.

Chuck lifted an eyebrow at him. "Yeah, you do."

"Not like that. I want her to want me for herself. Not just because you said so. She's not a pet." Gabriel spat.

Chuck nodded "You know, she still has free will. I could easily compel her to you, but I haven't. If you're serious about wanting her to want you, on her own, you might want to go apologize now though."

Gabriel looked at him bewildered.

"You were quite loud." Chuck explained

Gabriel pinched the bridge of his nose “Just one more thing – she's not an angel."

"No, but in a lot of ways, she is what the angels were supposed to have been. She is strong, but flexible – fierce, yet compassionate. In many ways, she is the best humanity has to offer." Chuck smiled fondly.

"But why can she see my wings? Only you and the other archangels ever could." Gabriel persisted.

"Because you needed her to see them in order for her to get to know you. _I_ know you. You hide all your emotions and insecurities behind bravado, arrogance and sarcasm – you learned that from Lucifer. But your wings _always_ give you away." Chuck smiled in the way, that fathers smile at their sons. Half proud, half exasperated. It made Gabriel warmer than he had been in eons.

"I'm still totally pissed at you. But thanks for the talk." Gabriel nodded and clapped his father on the shoulder before he went in search of Hermione.

…

"He could at least have sent the pizza with us." Hermione grumbled, when she and the Winchester brothers suddenly found themselves in the kitchen. Dean and Sam were both looking a bit green, and Dean supported himself against the kitchen counter.

"How are you so cool with this?" Sam asked her.

"You have experience with Gabriel, yes? I've lived with him a long time. The surprise tends to wear off." Hermione deflected. From what Gabriel had told her about the Winchesters, they weren't exactly pro witches. She didn't want to tell them she had been dealing with talking hats and moving staircases since she was eleven.

Dean narrowed his eyes at her. "I still don't get how that works."

"Well, it works pretty great. I mean, you saw, where we live and you saw us together, you might even have seen my car out front."

"That's not what I mean, and you know it. Why does a – uh pretty little thing like you, decide to shack up with a thing like him? From what I can tell, he didn't just conjure you up, and you seem pretty smart too. I just don't get it! Is he like, compelling you into being with him or something?"

Hermione sighed. "We're not together per se. If you must know, I was bored. Then this completely strange man, comes barging into my life, doing things I could barely believe. I mean, I have seen some strange things along the road, but what Gabriel could do was incredible. Of course, I was going to be fascinated. Other than that, our motivations are our own."

Sam had told him, that he was too old for her. That he was being a hypocrite – if Gabriel was too old, then so was he. He knew she was too young for him too, but dammit if he didn't perk up a bit, when she had said they weren't together.

The first thing Dean had thought after hearing that, was; 'Damn! What the hell was wrong with Gabriel?' the girl obviously had feelings towards the angel, she was beautiful and smart – why hadn't he made a move? But then again, Dean somehow didn’t feel comfortable with that.

"I was just curious, is all" he smiled at her sheepishly.

"I don't want her like that!" suddenly reverberated through the entire bunker in Gabriel's voice.

Hermione's heart broke. She hadn't realized how much of it belonged to the strange relationship she had with Gabriel. She gasped, feeling as though she had just received a punch to the gut.

Dean shifted awkwardly. He felt mostly bad about his previous thoughts, but a small part in the back of his head couldn't help but be a little happy.

"If you'll excuse me." Hermione said thickly, as she walked out the door in search of solitude.


	6. A match made in heaven... kinda.

Dean sucked in a breath and followed Hermione, ignoring the look his brother sent him. It was look he was very familiar with – the _'Whatever the hell you think you're doing, don't do it, Dean_ '- bitchface, that Sam had perfected with years of training.

He found her in the lab, studying the gunk that was still on the wall. He gave her a crooked smile. "We had a witch pass through here, a couple of years ago. Our – uh, our friend Charlie ganked her with red stiletto shoes." He told her with his most charming smirk.

Hermione looked at him, horrified.

"And do you uh ' _gank'_ a lot of witches?" She asked him.

"Well, most of the ones we meet. You wouldn't believe the nasty stuff we've seen." He tried to impress her.

She laughed nervously. "Anyways, this is a very interesting room. What is all this?" She asked him, trying desperately to deflect.

"Oh, well, actually this whole thing is a computer, believe it or not. It's from the 50's, and in the back, I think some things for a lab. There are some jars with weird stuff back there." He gestured vaguely at the shelves in the back.

Hermione went to take a look and was pleasantly surprised.

"Oh! This is shrivelfig! Very old shrivelfig, but still. And bezoars! This is amazing!" She exclaimed, but her breath hitched when she noticed the symbols on the jars. She looked around slowly, suddenly noticing the same symbol depicted on almost everything. Jars, folders and books. It was even on a plaque on the door and on the ancient looking telephone in the corner. Why the hell hadn't she noticed that before?

"Uh, what?" Dean looked at her as if she had grown a second head.

"It's just very interesting, is all" Hermione breathed. "Oh! Was there something you wanted?" She questioned, looking around, smiling at him.

"No, no. I just wanted to check if you were okay, you know." He walked close to her, with his hands in his front pockets.

"Uh, yeah. I think I am." She smiled ruefully.

"Hey, if you aren't, that's okay too. Just uh, just don't let it get you down too much, you know." He shrugged.

"You're actually not so bad, Winchester" she mused.

Dean smirked proudly. "Not so bad is probably the best compliment I'm gonna get." He realised then, that attraction might not have been the best word to describe his feelings. Maybe just a little, but primarily he felt protective of her. He didn’t want her to get hurt.

…

After speaking with his father, Gabriel went in search of Hermione. Instead, he found Sam alone in the kitchen.

"I don't think I have to tell you, you're a dick, right?" Sam said dryly.

"You shut your mouth." Gabriel scowled at him

"You don't want her? Why the hell not? I'm pretty sure she's into you, even if I really can't see why." Sam told him, bewildered.

Gabriel growled in frustration. "It's not that I don't want her. It's complicated, alright?"

"Then uncomplicate it." Sam shrugged

"It's my dad. He said he _made_ her for me." He sighed.

Sam's nose scrunched in confusion "Okay? I don't know. That sounds pretty cool to me.”

"No, it's not cool! I don't want her to be with me, just because God said so. I want her to choose me on her own. I don't want something based on some _divine intervention_. She means something to me, and I don't want to tie her to me, if she's going to be unhappy. Or worse – be fake happy. That's just creepy. Wait, why am I even telling you this?" Gabriel frowned.

“But isn't it almost like a soul-matey kinda thing?" Sam tried.

"You know, 'a match made in Heaven' might sound charming and stuff, but when God is your literal dad, it just gets kind of creepy in an arranged marriage sort of way. Besides, you're right – she is too young for me. By several billion years, in fact." Gabriel ran a hand down his face.

Sam sighed exasperatedly

"Maybe you should talk to her about it? You should probably do something fast though, if you're serious about her. I know Dean likes her and he's going to try, if he thinks she's free."

"The hell he is." Gabriel growled and went in search of Hermione.

…

He tried not to use the angel warding he had placed on her. After all, it wasn't an emergency. Who was he kidding? He found her in no time, along with Dean the Douche. He cleared his throat as he stepped through the door.

"Hey Dean-o. Your little bro needs you, I think he needs help to tie his shoelaces." He said, sauntering in.

Dean turned around to look at him with a disgruntled expression, making Gabriel want to punch him even more than before. Luckily, Dean left pretty quickly, avoiding the archangel fist that would otherwise be heading his way.

Gabriel shut the door behind him "I think we should talk."

"About what?" Hermione asked with her back turned, suddenly extremely interested in the jars on the shelves.

Gabriel sighed and ran a hand over his face. "I'm not really good at this. You know me by now – I'm not very good at taking things seriously."

"I've noticed. And you don't have to worry. I mean, I know we haven't really talked about any of that stuff, and we only kissed that one time, and I'm always making you eat vegetables and stop you from killing people, I understand that you wouldn't want – "

"But I do" He interrupted her rant, putting a hand on her shoulder and turning her around so she faced him. "I want you _so_ much. But only if you want me too. I don't want you if it's because of some sort of divine intervention, I want it to be your _own_ choices, your _own_ feelings. I couldn't bear it, if you were forced into something you didn't want. _Especially_ because of me." He said gently, letting his hands run down her arms, to grab hers.

"You daft thing" She muttered, when she saw his wings were so droopy, they were basically sweeping the floor. "Don't you understand, that in the end, _everything_ is divine intervention? _You_ are divine intervention. If you live your life, second guessing everything because of your father, then you're not really living at all."

She looked at him, with those favorite chocolate, caramel infused, brown eyes, and he couldn't help himself.

He captured her lips in a kiss, relishing the softness of them. He had kissed her before, a long time ago, and while it had been amazing, it had just been to tease her. This kiss was a different league entirely. Her lips were warm and her body was soft, as he held her tight. When she moaned, a little and opened her mouth for him to explore, he was happy to be an angel, because he was certain, that he would have died if he had been a man. The heart, that he definitely _did_ have, was pounding in his chest, in rhythm with hers.

Hermione's toes were curling in on themselves, and the eagles she had in her stomach from before, were soaring so high, that she was shivering. She felt relaxed, exited and elated, all at the same time. Even if her eyes were closed, she somehow knew, the two of them were enveloped by golden wings, and true enough, the second she opened her eyes, they were surrounded by a shimmering, warm light.

"This is magical." She whispered, leaning her forehead against his.

" _You're_ magical." He murmured, making her snort.

He rolled his eyes "You know, what I mean."

She giggled. "Not entirely, no, but I'll take what I can get."

"You can have it all!" He waggled his eyebrows at her.

"I'll settle for another kiss for now" She smiled at him.

"No, seriously." He told her, now straight faced. "Anything you want, anything you need – you got it."

"That's a song, Gabe."

"Doesn't make it less true!" He smirked at her and drew her close, to kiss her again. This time even more intense. He turned them around, pressing her up against the door, as he let himself drown. She was everywhere, her warmth, her scent and her small moans and sighs, all his senses overloaded.

"Hey! Knock it off!" Dean yelled, banging on the door.

Hermione winced and frowned.

"I take it back, Winchester! You suck!" She yelled back, laughing.

Gabriel grinned widely at her and proceeded to kiss her neck, making her melt again. He could really get used to that.

…

Dean wasn't happy. The whole situation was weird to him. He wasn't exactly Gabriel's biggest fan or anything, but the angel had come through for them in the end with the whole apocalypse-business, even if dying had just been a trick. And now they had him in the bunker, along with a pretty little thing and he felt really weird about it. The whole deal was winding him up into a tight ball of frustration.

Sam was just trying to understand it. Hermione seemed smart and sweet, if maybe a little hardened, considering her age. She was obviously bossy and seemed to be able to reign Gabriel in, which was a damn miracle to be honest. What he didn't understand was, why she would duck, during a relatively normal conversation, and how she could be so cool with the supernatural and all the things happening around Chuck. The story of how they met, sounded fishy as well, and the situation at hand, was delicate enough, without adding any wildcards. She was a distraction to his brother too. He could tell, that Dean was attracted to the girl, but at this point, he supposed his grumpiness could mostly be attributed to it being Gabriel she was with.

…

When Gabriel and Hermione re-entered the library, Dean was scowling and Sam looked pensive.

“So. Are you done?” Dean grumbled and receives an elbow in the ribs from his brother.

"No way near it." Gabriel smirked.

Hermione sighed "Let's just try to stay civil, shall we?"

"You know dad, Sam and Dean said Luci was out too. So, where is he?"

"It's uh. It's a bit hard to explain, but Lucifer is currently in Castiel's vessel." Chuck answered, scratching the back of his head

Gabriel nodded. "And where is Castiel, then?"

"As far as we know, he's in there too." Chuck bit his lip.

"And, where are they? What aren't you telling me?" Gabriel persisted.

Chuck looked down at the floor. "Amara has them."

Gabriel blinked "Say what again?"

"They're with Amara." Chuck sighed

"You mean to tell me, that Luci and Cas, - _my brothers_ are in the clutches of psycho Aunt Amara? And you're sitting around, eating crappy pizza?" Gabriel roared, making the room shake. Sam and Dean looked around nervously as a few lightbulbs exploded. Hermione stood calmly by with her eyes narrowed at Chuck.

"Well, it might be a trap. Lucifer's obviously got the upper hand in the vessel, and he might make a deal with Amara. It's probably a trap." Chuck defended.

"Probably a tra – Amara has just as much of a beef with Lucifer as she has with you! Even if he tries to strike a deal, there's no way she'll take it!" Gabriel argued

"Doesn't matter. She's shielded herself from me. I can't find her." Chuck sighed.

"So, what? You're just giving up? Or is that why you're trying to get the band back together, so we can find your _favorite_ son?" Gabriel yelled.

Chuck looked down. "I also just want her to spare the universe, you know" he mumbled.

" _Unbelievable_. I prayed to you every night, you know. That you would come back to me – _to us_. Not even for my own sake, but for the other angels and the rest of humanity. I was never good enough for you to come back for, but as soon as Lucifer's life is really on the line, you miraculously turn up. You see, I don't buy your shit about saving creation, because when it was Lucifer, who was hell bent on destroying the world, you still did nothing." Gabriel told his father, his voice dripping with resentment.

"That's not true. I told Dean about the cemetery." He pointed at Dean, who raised his hands, clearly not up for being drawn in to the conversation.

"You sent him to his death." Gabriel pointed out.

"And you're so much better? You told them about the rings." Chuck retorted

"Yes – so they could put Lucifer back in the cage, to spare humankind. I didn't know Sam was going to take the plunge too!"

Hermione, Sam and Dean sat, feeling incredibly awkward throughout the family spat. And even more awkward, as Gabriel walked out, leaving them alone with freaking God.

Chuck, as he insisted people call him, sighed

"So, go on, ask the questions. What's the purpose of life? What does it all mean? Chicken or egg?" He told Hermione.

She frowned "Why did you return? The real answer?"

"As I said – saving the world and all that rot." He said quickly, avoiding eye-contact.

Hermione quirked an eyebrow at him and he sighed.

"Being a parent isn't easy, you know. Imagine having a kid – then imagine having billions of them. They all have questions – demands. The archangels were my sons, truly – my very first creations. The other creations were always more distant. I had favorites, even if I wasn't supposed to. Lucifer was perfect and I showered him with affection, probably too much, because he began to feel entitled. Then, when I gave him the mark, it corrupted him even more, turning his pride into contempt of all other creations, especially human kind. After that, I couldn't bear looking at the other angels – the ones that had felt neglected. It wasn't until then, that I realized, how blind my love for Lucifer had made me towards the other of my creations. I did love them, but I loved Lucifer more. Still do, if I'm honest."

Hermione felt her jaw tensing. The more Chuck was speaking, the more she understood Gabriel's resentment. She had seen, what a happy family could be with a lot of children. She was absolutely certain, that Mr. and Mrs. Weasley loved all their children equally. She looked at him with disdain.

"So, you left them feeling even more betrayed and neglected. What about their prayers? Their cries for help? Did you just ignore that?"

"Well, yeah. They needed to grow up.” He shrugged “Besides, I do actually answer prayers sometimes. There was once, where this woman prayed to me to make her successful and respected. I turned her into a man." He chuckled and winked at her.

Hermione had heard enough. Even in retrospect, she would never be able to explain exactly why, but she drew her arm back and punched him hard in the face.

Dean looked at her in awe, but Sam was horrified. Who punches God in the face? He was counting seconds, waiting for the retaliation to come, but it never did.

Chuck looked truly surprised, but was unharmed much to Hermione's frustration. She stormed out, leaving two men and a God staring after her.

She stomped out into the kitchen, where she found Gabriel, putting the final touches on a huge layered chocolate cake. He was stress eating, she knew, but she would let it slide and maybe have a slice, herself.

It wasn't until then, the adrenaline wore off, and she felt the mortification.

"I punched your father in the face" She whispered.

"Come again?" Gabriel looked up from the cake and quirked an eyebrow at her.

"I punched GOD in the face!" She exclaimed and promptly covered her own mouth with her hand.

Gabriel blinked for a few seconds and then laughed out loud. The kind of laugh that comes all the way from the belly and shakes your entire body.

After a while of hysterical laughter, he finally came to and took her hand, pulling her closer.

"That is the most amazing thing I have ever heard! Damn, that was cathartic." He chuckled and kissed her, with small interruptions when he started laughing again. When he had calmed down, he deepened the kiss and pushed her against the kitchen counter.

At that moment, Sam and Dean entered the kitchen.

"Down with the PDA, please." Sam requested, covering his eyes. Dean grunted in agreement.

"Hey, uh – nice right hook action." Dean smirked, making Hermione hide her face in her hands.

"Listen – We got news that another town was hit by Amara's fog, but this one guy survived. We're going to go investigate. It's pretty close, so it shouldn't take too long." Sam told them. The boys exited the bunker, leaving Gabriel and Hermione to hide from God.


	7. 2 for 1 rescue mission

Donatello was – eccentric, for a lack of a better word.

"You know, for a prophet of the lord, he's not all that impressive." Hermione commented to Dean and Sam, when they were alone in the kitchen.

Dean snorted. "Kevin was in ' _advanced placement'_. You'd be surprised at what a nerd can turn into."

"I resent that." She mumbled lowly, making Sam raise an eyebrow and give her a little smirk.

Gabriel snorted. "If you think that's bad, you should have seen Luke." He thought back with a fond expression.

Dean snapped his eyes up to look at Gabriel. Sometimes it was hard to imagine that Gabriel, the trickster was the brother of the serious and clueless angel he knew, but then something happened, that made him wonder how much Gabriel and Castiel actually knew each other.

"How on earth were you allowed to take him with you anyways? I can't imagine they were keen on releasing the sole survivor of something that suspiciously looks like a chemical attack. _Especially_ when said survivor happens to be a _chemist_?" Hermione inquired, breaking Dean's thoughts.

"Well, we might have uh – we might have taken him with us as part of a federal investigation." Sam answered, clearing his throat and looking away.

Hermione snorted "Of course you have." She rolled her eyes.

"Right, well you guys can help Donatello get settled in. Sammy and I are going for a drive. We'll bring back some take-out." Dean said, grabbing Sam by his shoulder and marching them out of the bunker.

…

As the day turned to evening, Gabriel created a small movie theatre out of one of the empty rooms. It was easy enough work – usually he would just snap his fingers, and boom! But that night, he put just a little more effort into it, a little more detail and a little more grandeur. He had told himself time and time again, just as when he was younger, that he didn't _need_ to impress his father, that he didn't _need_ his attention, but now that God was back in the game it was clear to him, that hell yes, he did.

They tried to invite Donatello, but the guy was still reeling over the whole 'prophet' business and seemed near catatonic.

Gabriel felt his heart was in his throat when Chuck entered his little creation. When Chuck looked around, nodding approvingly, Gabriel let out a breath he didn't know he had been holding.

"You're getting better, son!" Chuck remarked.

"Oh this? Pfft. This – this is nothing." He said, trying and failing at nonchalance.

"I know! I can't wait to see your house!" His father beamed at him.

Neither Hermione nor Gabriel were looking forward to that. Gabriel being self-conscious about daddy's inspection, Hermione being nervous, that Chuck might find some of Gabriel's more risqué wardrobe suggestions for her.

…

Halfway through the action comedy, Dean and Sam returned, looking grim. Chuck pretended not to notice, but Hermione nudged Gabriel with her elbow, making him turn his attention to the brothers. Slowly, they snuck out of the makeshift movie theatre.

Dean was sitting in what they had dubbed 'the war room' with Donatello, who still seemed out of it. Soon, Sam came into the room too, but he wasn't alone.

"You!" Gabriel exclaimed, when Metatron came down the stairs. "You told me you wanted to help Castiel! You told me you needed the horn to _protect_ the angels! Give me _one_ good reason why I shouldn’t just smite your ass on the spot." He fumed.

Metatron raised his arms defensively. "Yes, yes, I did do that, but let's let bygones be bygones, I think we have bigger fish to fry."

Gabriel did not like Metatron, at all. He had fooled him once, and not many did that and lived. He would have fried his wings crispy if he could, but Metatron _wasn't_ an angel anymore. He was pathetic, really and in the end, Gabriel couldn't help but pity him just a little. Even if he was still a jackass.

"Okay, what do you want, Metatron?" Dean growled

Metatron sniffed. "I want to help"

"Okay? Besides world-class douchery, what do you have to offer?” Dean rolled his eyes.

"Oh, nothing. I just transcribed the angel tablet and know all the spells. And I know what makes Amara tick. And I had a relationship with the big guy for eons. Shall I keep going?"

And there went Gabriel's sympathy.

"He's got that too." Dean pointed out, gesturing at Gabriel.

Metatron scoffed "You need all the help you can get – even douche help."

Gabriel rolled his eyes so hard, he was afraid he might actually be able to see his own grace. The drama of Metatron was unbelievable. Always had been.

"And since when did you jump on the God wagon? You never used to give a damn." Dean remarked

Metatron sighed "Well, I didn't – at one time. Now that he's gone all kamikaze, leaving us with Darkness. I – I was by his side since the creation. He believed in me. If there's something I can do to help save him and his creation, then uh – it seems like I should."

Dean nodded thoughtfully. "The plan is to rescue Lucifer from Amara. Then we teleport out of Amara's hideout and we convince Chuck to fight her."

Gabriel scoffed "That's your plan? Do you even know where Amara is?"

"Uh, I think I might know where she is. I've been getting this vibe. It's like a ping in my cerebral cortex." Donatello interrupted, making Hermione raise an eyebrow.

"Great, so either Amara or a stroke" Gabriel snarked.

"And, how are we supposed to keep Amara busy while we're uh – liberating Lucifer?" Hermione asked carefully.

"You leave that part to me." Dean sighed.

Hermione nodded sceptically. "So, when do we leave?" she asked. Gabriel narrowed his eyes at her.

"We should talk." He said, grabbing her by the shoulder and zapping them into the room they had chosen for themselves.

"Look, I know what you're going to say, and I know you can look after yourself, and I know you can do that and what you can do – but those to knuckleheads don't. And I'd prefer it if they found out later, rather than sooner. They aren't exactly the biggest fans of magic." He pointed out, once they were alone.

Hermione tensed. "I could really be of use to you, you know." she ground out. “You’re going in blind, you don’t know her warding, which happens to be my area of expertise.”

"I know, but I'm afraid I'll have to insist on this one. My whole point is trying to keep you safe, but there's no way in hell I can do that, if Amara _and_ Lucifer is involved. I’ll just get distracted and that’s something we really can’t afford. Once back here, I'm pretty sure dad will figure out a way to neuter Luci, but if _Amara_ got to you, it wouldn't be pretty, and I couldn't live with myself if something happened."

She frowned. "And if something happened to you? Am I just supposed to move on? That's not possible, you moron." She punched him lightly in the arm.

"Just humour me on this, Sweetheart." He smiled at her.

She sighed in defeat “Fine.” And Gabriel kissed her deeply, breaking her frown.

Five minutes later, they returned to the kitchen looking dishevelled, much to Dean's consternation.

"We leave at dawn. And doll face isn't coming." He grouched

Hermione made a face at him, but for once, didn't argue.

…

The plan was absolutely crazy, in Gabriel's opinion, but then again – It was hard to do anything that wasn't crazy in the particular situation they had found themselves in. Sometimes, taking crazy risks is the only way forward. So, he was sitting in the Impala next to Sam, with Donatello and Metatron in the back, as they drove with neck breaking speed to Amara's hideout.

"Guys, there's some serious warding going on here." He remarked, as they pulled up next to the abandoned warehouse. It was a strange feeling, the warding gave. He could walk and talk just fine, but his grace felt heavy and sluggish. He was certain, that it would only get worse as they got closer to Lucifer. The others had no grace, so of course they didn't notice a thing, but to an angel, the feeling was so intense and oppressive, he felt like he almost couldn't breathe – not that he needed to, it was a figure of speech.

The entity that had become both Lucifer and Castiel looked like crap, and their graces looked mangled. To Gabriel it felt like a punch to the gut, seeing two of his brothers so damaged by the hand of their aunt. Like normally, he masked it though. It was what he did best, after all.

He strolled casually into the lion's den, as Metatron ran up to check the spells that were used to bind them.

"Wow. Aunt Amara really got a two-for-one deal with you two, huh?"

Eyes shot up to look at him, and just by that look, Gabriel knew that it was Lucifer in the driver's seat.

"Brother?" He gave a strained smile and scoffed. "I know, I'm pretty far gone, but I never thought I would be the one hallucinating. That's always something I reserve for others. I _killed_ you."

Gabriel snorted. "It was a close call, I'll admit, but I'm afraid you missed."

Lucifer narrowed his eyes. "No, I killed you. I'm sure of it."

"Really sure? Or were you too arrogant to check?" Gabriel smirked.

"Enough talking." Sam interrupted their bickering. "Metatron, are you done soon?"

"Almost there." Metatron spoke up and continued to mutter spells and incantations.

"Alright, we're obviously busting you out of here, but you've got to know, that it comes with the condition of you working with us to defeat Amara" Sam told Lucifer, who rolled his eyes.

"Obviously, I'm all for taking her out." He coughed.

"Dad's there." Gabriel told him, and Lucifer's eyes shot to him. His jaw tensed.

"It's not like that makes any difference. Bitch is going down either way." He growled, sagging down as Metatron finally found the spell to release him.

Gabriel smiled minutely. "Damn straight."

"Great, let's get going, Gabriel can you get us out of here?" Sam rushed.

"Didn't you listen to me earlier? The warding here is extreme! We need to get out the way we came!" Gabriel huffed, annoyed, that no one had been listening.

"Guys! She's coming, I can feel her, she's coming!" Donatello yelled frantically.

"Let's go!" Gabriel said, hauling Lucifer to his legs, supporting his weight. It wasn't until they had reached the car, that he noticed Metatron wasn't with them.

"Where's Metatron?" he asked, but Sam just shook his head. Gabriel had half a mind to return, to save the idiot scribe, but if he did, they would all get roasted.

He pushed Lucifer into the backseat of the Impala and barely made it in himself before Sam was racing out of the place.

They were driving as fast as they could, and were almost out of the warding zone, when seemingly out of nowhere, Amara turned up on the road. Gabriel suddenly felt very small. It was the first time he had seen her since they locked her in the cage and boy did she look pissed. Just as he was sure he would be reduced to atoms, he thought about his father, mentally apologizing for going behind his back to free Lucifer.

Boom!

The Impala landed with a big crash in the middle of the bunker, Hermione standing wide eyed in front of them with a cup of tea, contents sloshed all over her clothes.

"Oh, shit." She whispered.


	8. Stress eating

"So, we're back. Apparently." Gabriel calmly concluded.

"What happened?!" Donatello screamed frantically. They all left the Impala, Gabriel supporting his brother as they walked up the stairs to where Hermione stood wide-eyed. Gabriel winked at her as they passed, making her roll her eyes.

"He's in the war room." She told them and pointed in that direction.

Lucifer pushed Gabriel off, to hobble on his own the rest of the way. As they came into the war room, Chuck came in, carrying beer.

"Occasionally, I do answer a prayer." He smiled widely at them. The smile lost some of its power though, when Lucifer hobbled forward.

"You've changed." Chuck sighed deeply.

" _You've_ changed." Lucifer retorted.

"You’re both really, pretty much the same." Gabriel butted in. Neither of them paid him any mind, as Chuck healed Lucifer in the blink of an eye. Lucifer sneered, and pushed his way past Chuck, further into the bunker. Chuck sighed again and threw himself into a chair. "There's just no winning with him." He mumbled to no one in particular.

Gabriel rolled his eyes at both their antics, and took Hermione's hand, leading her into the kitchen where he conjured up a giant chocolate truffle parfait, which he immediately dug into with gusto.

"This is going to be a nightmare" He groaned at her through a mouthful, making her wrinkle her nose. His wings were ruffled and twitching slightly. "Seriously. It's going to be apocalyptic – _again_." He moaned in exasparation. He leaned against the kitchen counter, swinging his spoon aggressively and accidentally showering Hermione in bits of the dessert.

Hermione sighed, vanishing the mess with a wave of her hand and started opening drawers in search of a spoon for herself. "Don't you think they just need to talk it out or something?"

Gabriel laughed harshly. "Oh, Honey, you don't know them like I do. Last the two of them met, Lucifer had already fried half the planet."

She raised her eyebrows "But why? I mean, what was the initial conflict?" she asked him.

Gabriel put down his spoon and sighed heavily. "Not something that can be fixed. Luci was dad's favorite as you know, something he was rather obvious about." He started, with no small hint of bitterness. "He was practically _drowned_ in love and affection, so when dad created this new world, with these humans in them, and told us that _they_ were his favorites now, that _we_ needed to bow down to _them_ and protect them, Lucifer threw a fit. I didn't know, that dad had given the Mark of Cain to Lucifer, or what it had done to him. Dad ordered Michael to fight Lucifer and throw him into the cage in hell. By then, Luci was lost in his own jealousy and could only see the flaws of humanity." He finished with a frown.

Hermione shook her head lightly. "There are a lot of wrongdoings, but nothing that can't be fixed with a talk and an apology."

Gabriel nodded, conceding her point before he grabbed her by the waist and kissed her deeply. She broke the kiss, and whispered "Maybe Chuck isn't the only one, who needs to talk with Lucifer."

He made a face at her "I know." He grumbled.

"Just think about it, okay?" She patted his cheek. "I'm going to go browse in the library. I think I saw some transfiguration textbooks before and I want to see if they're legit."

He looked after her with a gentle smile, as she walked out the door. He knew she had a point – they all needed to talk, but she was also too naïve and idealistic. Talking might help, but it couldn't fix everything – that was a hard lesson learned from billions of years of experience.

"Wow." A voice snarked behind him, making him turn around to come face to face to Lucifer. "I mean, first Kali, and now _this_? I suppose she's attractive for a _monkey_ , but still." He drawled, sneering at him.

"Easy now, Luci. I saved you from our dear aunt, I can just as easily gift wrap you and deliver you back on her doorstep." Gabriel narrowed his eyes.

"And it seems you really _care_ about it. Does it do tricks? … play dead?" Lucifer smirked.

"You know, you can talk all you want, but I know dad has you shooting blanks, so don't get ahead of yourself – I still got juice, and so does she, by the way." Gabriel pointed out.

"Ooh, scary.” Lucifer mock shuddered “So, it's one of _them_ , is it? You've gone from a shit flinging baboon to a chimpanzee. Big deal – still a monkey." Lucifer pursed his lips.

Gabriel rolled his eyes "You're impossible" he concluded, and turned to leave.

"And what will you do when she dies?" Lucifer called after him, making him turn around, narrowing his eyes.

"What are you implying?" Gabriel growled

"For once I'm not threatening." Lucifer raised his hands placatingly. "Her lifespan is that of a mayfly for us. You're attached to her – what happens to you, when she _inevitably_ dies? You have a heart, and it always made you weak. But now it's going to get crushed, am I right?" He sighed in mock sympathy.

Gabriel closed his eyes. He would be lying if he said he hadn't thought about it, but he had always pushed the notion away.

"Maybe I will die with her, then." He whispered to his brother, who stood looking at him wide-eyed.

"You would die for that – that thing? That maggot?" he seethed.

Gabriel sighed exasperatedly "Why is it, that whenever we fight, it's always about humanity?" he groaned, catching Lucifer off guard.

"Because you seem to like those tumors." He told Gabriel as if that should be obvious.

"I just hate the fighting. You know, sometimes, I wish I hadn't gone to earth. To live amongst the humans. Everything was so much easier, when we were just standing around, arguing over an anthill." Gabriel smiled wryly

"Speak for yourself, _brother"_ Lucifer hissed

"You know, in some ways you're right." Gabriel conceded and Lucifer snapped his eyes up.

"Humans are amazing, but some of them are flawed – they can be _horrible_ creatures. They're corrupt, they wage wars, they destroy the world they're inhabiting. But look at yourself – take away your power and your immortality, how are you any different?"

"You need some polish for that halo you're so desperately trying to shine? You haven't exactly been a saint yourself." Lucifer spat.

Gabriel clenched his jaw. "No, but I'm getting better. I'm trying to be better."

"What? For her?" Lucifer mocked.

Gabriel looked at Lucifer sadly "What happened to you, brother?" He whispered.

Lucifer sneered. "You know exactly what happened."

"I just don't get it. You were the favorite. You could have had _everything_ " Gabriel pointed out

"Yeah? Well guess what – being the favorite isn't all it's cracked up to be. It comes with expectations, and I didn't meet them. I might have been the favorite, but I was also the disappointment no one was supposed to talk about at the dinner table!" Lucifer exploded.

"And you thought that was fun for the rest of us? Why the hell do you think I left? With you and dad both gone, it was all a mad scramble for power and I didn't want it. I didn't want the arguments and I didn't want the badmouthing. You're a dick, but you're still my brother and it kills me that we can't just _get along_. It doesn't have to be like it was before – I just want to _not fight_." Gabriel groaned in frustration.

"So, what do you propose? A truce?" Lucifer sneered.

"Absolutely! I completely agree. Good idea, brother." Gabriel nodded and promptly left.

"No! Gabriel! It wasn't – I wasn't suggesting it!" Lucifer yelled after him in vain and kicked the table, when he didn't get an answer.

…

"So, uh – how did it go?" Chuck asked Gabriel, when he re-entered the library. "Did you see Amara?"

Gabriel gave his father his best bitchface.

"You're really not going to comment on it? You saw Lucifer's condition! He wouldn't have made it much more, if we hadn't gone for him." He hissed

"But I fixed him, didn't I?" Chuck shrugged

Gabriel scoffed. "Oh yeah, you fixed him right up – he's just peachy keen. Did you think, that maybe he wouldn't have needed fixing, if you had done something sooner?"

"Not going after him was smart! They could easily have made an alliance." Chuck tried to point out.

"But he's your _kid_! You're not supposed to be smart when it comes to family. Family is supposed to make you stupid! You need to talk with him. Screw if I wasn't the favorite, I'll manage – but he needs you, even if he's being a dick about it." Gabriel implored.

"Nah, he doesn't need me, not anymore. And since when do you take his side?"

"You know what, dad? I’m not taking sides. I don't want to be the guy in the middle again – You guys figure your shit out or I'm leaving." Gabriel sighed, completely done. He ran a hand over his face and turned to the exit.

…

Getting Chuck and Lucifer speaking was harder than Gabriel had expected, and it hurt more than a little, when it turned out that the Wincesters were able to get the two together, when he couldn't. They had set up, what Dean called "therapy-session" in the library.

"One of you is going to have to first. You know what? Lucifer, you agreed to have a sit down if God would show, so –" Sam started out, as they entered the room.

"And Chuck, you did say you'd talk." Dean pointed out.

"Him first, I'm the one who's owed an explanation." Lucifer pursed his lips. Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Yeah, because you're the only one" He whispered under his breath.

Chuck sighed in aggravation as they all sat down.

"Let's try 'I feel' statements." Dean suggested, looking way too proud of himself. Gabriel felt about ready to shoot himself, and Hermione was just trying to melt in with the books in the background in mortification.

Chuck nodded. "I am sorry? That you feel like I betrayed you and that I acted without cause." Gabriel felt the facepalm coming up.

"I'm sorry that you can't see you gave me no choice." Chuck continued to bury himself, smilingly satisfied. "I'm good"

"You heard that, right?" Lucifer asked.

Sam swallowed nervously "We all know you are God, but maybe, could you be a little less 'Lordly'?"

"But I am – I am the Lord." Chuck said, uncomprehendingly.

"Wow. There he goes" Lucifer said, unimpressed. Gabriel rolled his eyes hard. It had been billions of years, and it was still exactly the same.

"I did what I had to do! To create the world, I had to lock Amara away. And when the Mark corrupted you and I saw you posed a threat to humankind, I did the same with you." Chuck defended.

"No, you betrayed me. You gave me the Mark to lock her away, and when it changed me – when it did what the Mark inevitably does – you threw me away." Lucifer said venomously

"No, son. The Mark – You always cast a jaundiced glance at humans. The Mark didn't change you. It just made you more of what you already were."

"What I was, was your son. Your child."

"Why should I put you first above all others?" Chuck asked, and Gabriel snorted bitterly "You didn't have a problem doing it before" He mumbled under his breath.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to argue with your father, when your father is God?" Lucifer asked the others rhetorically. Gabriel just lifted an eyebrow at his theatrics.

"Everything is a tautology with you." Lucifer continued, this time at Chuck. "Everything is 'Because I told you so." Everything is 'It had to be done.'"

"Pretty sure that's all fathers" Dean mumbled.

"Okay, fine. Big picture, as God. You did what you had to do. But little picture? You sucked at being a dad." Lucifer retorted.

"Okay, maybe I didn't handle everything perfectly. But tell me: could I have kept humankind safe with you on the board? I know about your little bid to replace me with the angels. So, New God – what would you have done about you?" Chuck asked rhetorically.

"That is _not_ the _point_ " Lucifer growled. Gabriel was about to step in to give his brother some support, but it came instead from an unexpected angle

"I – I can't believe I'm actually about to say this, but Lucifer is right." Sam said. "All he wants is an apology, and you're too concerned about being right to give him one. But apologies aren't always about being right. Sometimes they're just about apologizing."

"Yeah, and the great thing about apologies is you don't even have to mean them. You know, I lie and tell Sam I'm sorry all the time." Dean felt the need to add, making Gabriel want to strangle him even more than before. Hermione was hiding her face in her hands in sympathetic mortification.

Chuck scowled at them "Enough from the peanut gallery." He said and waved his hand, banishing them to the mezzanine.

"Again?" Hermione huffed. Gabriel was slightly surprised to be banished along with the others, but in the end, he figured it was probably for the best. His own bitterness should really stay off the commentaries section.


	9. I'm not down with mind control

Gabriel sighed in relief when his brother and father came into the war room smiling. He was bitter and a bit jealous yeah, but he supposed the world was a bit more important than his hurt feelings.

"Great. So, what now?" He asked, leaning back in his chair.

"We trap Amara, put her back in the box." Chuck smiled ruefully and sat down.

"Wait, what?" Dean protested, obviously disagreeing.

"You're right, she needs to be destroyed – but I won't kill her." Chuck sighed.

"Why the hell not?" Dean growled

"Amara's been caged for billions of years, but she was always there. She had to be there. You know – yin and yang, dark and light."

"English Chuck" Dean ground out.

Chuck huffed, but to their surprise it was Hermione who answered.

"There is a certain balance in the universe. There can't be light without the dark or dark without the light. They cancel each other out. If you destroy one, the balance will be ruined, and everything would – " She searched for words.

"It wouldn't be a good thing" Lucifer glared at her.

"It really wouldn't be good. Like 'end of reality' not good." Chuck finished.

"Okay, so we gift-wrap Amara. I mean, we got the team back together, so – " Sam started.

"Not quite. We're still a few members short of the original line-up." Chuck grumbled.

"Yeah, first time, it took the combined strength of the archangels before dad finished her off" Gabriel pointed out.

"Even then it was close. Now, with just us, we'll lose." Chuck continued, sighing.

"I'm afraid Michael might be indisposed" Lucifer winced.

"And Castiel killed Raffie." Gabriel wrinkled his nose.

"Well, can't you just bring them back? Like you brought Castiel back?" Sam shrugged.

"No. Archangels are different, it would take time that we don't have." Chuck shook his head

"So, what do we need?" Dean asked.

"What've we got?" Chuck looked pointedly at Gabriel and Hermione, but Gabriel shook his head imperceptibly and Chuck nodded.

"We could look for more Hands of God?" Sam suggested. Gabriel gave him a deadpan look.

"A little redundant" Chuck answered, waving his hands.

"What about Crowley. Demon power? King of Hell?" Dean suggested.

Lucifer rolled his eyes. "You want to bring your ex-boyfriend in?" he snarked

Chuck sighed. "I don't like it, but you have a point. He does have some juice."

"We also have the angels." Lucifer pointed out. Chuck winced. "Don't worry dad, you don't have to deal with them." Lucifer sighed.

"And you think they'll listen to you?" Dean pointed out.

"Maybe not. But they'll probably listen to him." Lucifer pointed at Gabriel, who sighed in defeat.

Chuck nodded.

"Then there's Rowena. I mean, she's a snake, but she's a powerful witch." Sam proposed.

Hermione's eyes widened and she gulped. "I thought you didn't work with witches."

Sam made a face "We don't generally, but we've been kind of forced to. She's powerful and she's got this book – the Book of the Damned."

Hermione's blood ran cold. She had heard of the Book of the Damned – She was an academic after all, and what she had heard about it made "Secrets of the Darkest Arts" and "Magick Moste Evile" seem like children's fairy tales, including the instructions on making a horcrux. "I don't like the sound of her."

"You're willing to work with a demon, but not a witch?" Dean scrunched his eyebrows at her in confusion.

"No, that's not it. It's just, that I've heard of that book." She raised her hands placatingly.

"Well, it _is_ kinda gross." Sam conceded. "She's actually Crowley's mother and she – "

"But I thought it took centuries to turn a human into a demon." She interrupted.

"You'd be surprised." Dean mumbled to himself, looking at the floor.

"She's old, but don't say that to her face. She's from the 17th century, Scotland. She claims to be born with magic, but the witches we generally deal with, make deals with demons for their power. So far, what we've seen, she can't die." Sam continued.

"Yeah, I snapped her neck myself." Lucifer said nonchalantly.

Hermione felt sick to her stomach, and not because of Lucifer's flippant remark. Everything in her mind screamed horcrux, and Scotland was a little too close to home. Gabriel seemed to sense her distress and took her hand, squeezing it.

"Anyways, getting these groups to enlist and work together isn't going to be easy." Sam pointed out.

"Couldn't you just compel them?" Dean asked, and Hermione looked at him horrified.

"I invented free will for a reason." Chuck argued.

"So, we're tying our hands, on principle." Dean made a face. Hermione was just about to give him a piece of her mind, but Chuck came first. "No, you can't make an effective soldier by force. They have to choose this fight."

Hermione looked at Dean incredulously. Damn straight, she would tie her hands, on principle and not efficiency.

"They're going to want to know they're backing a winner." Dean pointed out.

Sam shrugged "So, we play the God-card. We assemble our band of brothers, hit Amara with everything we've got. Then when she's weak – "

"I finish her off." Chuck finished.

"We might want to move base though." Gabriel pointed out. "The warding on this place makes it harder to work any sort of power. It's possible to do small stuff, but we're going to want to be on full capacity."

Lucifer nodded. "You have a point."

Hermione sighed. She was very tempted to give Harry a call. Some wizards would be good for backup, but the question would be if they could get people assembled with such a short notice. Then again, working with demons and dark witches might not be high on the wizarding community to-do list after just coming out of a war. Best case scenario, she would be called insane and thrown in Azkaban for collaborating with Rowena. She had really become more pragmatic – sometimes the end _did_ justify the means, even if she wasn't down with mind control.

…

As Sam, Dean and Hermione looked for a proper setting for the stand-off, Lucifer went to heaven, where he was immediately surrounded by angels.

"And here I thought I had made real inroads with you guys." He complained

"You thought wrong, Serpent." An angel hissed at him.

"Serpent?" Lucifer mouthed incredulously.

"We loathe you. We'll always loathe you."

"I came here to ask a good-faith favor of you guys, but as you are clearly less than kindly disposed, perhaps you'll listen to this guy?" He rolled his eyes and pointed over his shoulder

Gabriel took this as his cue and appeared around the corner.

"Hiya guys! Long time no see." He waved at then cheerfully

The angels stood, dumbstruck, looking at Gabriel.

"But you – you were killed. By him." An angel stuttered, pointing at Lucifer.

Gabriel shrugged "Yeah well, it didn't take. Thing is, we need your help. I imagine you've watched the news?"

"The Darkness" the angel shuddered

"I'll take that as a yes. Now who would you rather work with? Lucifer or Amara?" Gabriel smiled at them, waggling his eyebrows.

Lucifer smirked. Even if the angels were conflicted, they were on board and they all knew it.

…

After driving around for what seemed like forever to Hermione, they finally found an abandoned power plant, that reminded Hermione of the home she shared with Gabriel. She missed the comforts of the library and her little garden and now she wondered if she would even ever see it again. It hit her, that she might not survive, but then again, when had she ever not been fighting for her life?

"You wanna remind me again, why you're here and not stashed away somewhere safe?" Dean grumbled.

"Because we need all hands on deck." Lucifer smirked, as he and Gabriel entered. Gabriel made a face at him.

"Hello boys" A gravelly voice interrupted from a corner. "And girl apparently. Enchanté"

When the boys had said 'demon' she wasn't sure what she had expected, but a bearded man in a black suit wasn't it.

"I suppose you must be Mr. Crowley then." She addressed him.

"Perfect English! And who might you be then?" Crowley smirked in a way she imagined he wanted to be seductive, but he just managed to creep her out.

"None of your concern." Gabriel ground out.

Hermione was about to put in her two cents when the door opened, and a woman entered. She was looking extravagant, with her long cobalt blue, glittery gown and her bright red hair perfectly coiffed. It made her look down and wrinkle her nose at her own jeans and jacket.

When the woman looked up, her eyes widened.

"I just don't feel comfortable with a civilian in the mix." Dean pointed at Hermione, continuing the previous conversation.

The woman started laughing hysterically. "You think she's a civilian? Whatever do you need me for? You've got a bleedin' war hero on your hands!"

Gabriel looked ready to murder her, and the others looked perplexed.

"Well, just because I'm an outlaw doesn't mean I don't get the news. I'm Rowena, my dear." Rowena smiled saccharinely and went to take Hermione's hand. Hermione however narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms.

"I've heard of you." She said measuredly as they circled each other.

"Then you know I'm a formidable witch. I singlehandedly destroyed the Grand Coven." Rowena pursed her lips.

Hermione snorted. "From what I've heard, that can't have been hard. The Grand Coven was disbanded in 1692 in favour of the Wizengamot because they used dark magic and stood against the enforcement of the International Statute of Secrecy that was signed three years previously. After that, they lost their influence and became a sort of secret society I suppose. Blood supremacists too, so I guess it is a kind of favour that you 'destroyed' the Grand Coven, but it's hardly impressive." She raised an eyebrow at the older witch.

Rowena smirked "Indeed. I didn't defeat any Dark Lords."

"What the hell is going on?" Dean finally exploded after recovering from shock. "You know Hermione? How?"

"Well, well, Dean my boy. It seems the girl has been holding out on you. It's not often I'm on this side of the accusation, but she is a witch!" Rowena arched her arm to point at Hermione, who rolled her eyes.

"Yes, I'm a witch, but I'm a good one." She told them without the drama that Rowena was obviously fond of, ignoring Gabriel, who was continuously moving closer.

"Yeah, and I'm Chinese." Dean deadpanned, raising his gun.

Rowena sneered. "She's actually telling the truth – how disappointing as it may be. Witches and wizards were recently at war, and a couple of years ago it came a head, with girlie there on the front lines. What did they call you? The Brightest Witch?"

Hermione's face reddened and she turned towards Dean. "Really, I'm not going to hurt you. I just want to help." She raised her hands, but Dean wasn't lowering the gun.

Gabriel narrowed his eyes at him. "You put that peashooter down, right now" He growled.

"Uh, maybe you should listen to them, Dean. I mean, would god approve of her if she was evil? He is kinda rooting for their relationship." Sam interrupted.

Dean huffed but put down the gun "I don't like it" He ground out.

Suddenly, flash of light illuminated the room, and Chuck appeared.

"Hello, my children" He said imperiously. Gabriel rolled his eyes in proper teenage fashion, unimpressed with his father's antics. Hermione nudged him with her elbow.

"Him?" Crowley asked incredulously

"Rowena. Crowley. It's good to finally meet you in person!" Chuck smiled at them.

Rowena winced "Sorry about, well, everything I've ever done in my life. Really, y-you can't have been a fan." She stammered.

"Oh yeah, I've been quietly rooting against you both for some time now." He answered flippantly "Although, I can't deny you're one of my guilty pleasures" He winked at her.

"Oh, God" She replied fake bashfully.

"Oh, God" Crowley sighed in exasperation.


	10. Meeting the family

As everyone was busy catching up, Hermione stood, observing Lucifer. She had a hard time consolidating the image of the devil with the entity in front of her. Sure, with the arrogant tilt of his head and the disdain he regarded her with, he looked like a right bastard, but she wasn't sure if he was the evil incarnate, she had expected. She had seen plenty of evil, but Lucifer didn't have the cold dead eyes of Voldemort or Bellatrix.

He was spiteful, bitter and mean, but not necessarily evil.

"What are you looking at, maggot?" he sneered at her.

Hermione rolled her eyes and looked away, but Lucifer persisted.

"So much cheek from such a low life-form. I wonder, sometimes how you apes even function." He stepped closer to her, regarding her with something close to curiosity. "But then again – you don't really, do you?" sneered.

Hermione sighed heavily and slowly turned her head, looking at him with as much contempt as she could muster. "Are you done?" She asked him calmly.

He walked ever closer, and whispered, so only she could hear him. "You know, when dad takes off my leash, Amara won't be first on my list. You'll be a pile of ash on the floor, where you belong."

She would never admit it, but she was rattled, but the defiance she had been born with in plenty reared its head and she squared her shoulders and narrowed her eyes at him.

"I have had just about enough of people, who think they're better than me. In the end, that's all you are – you might be an angel, but you're still just like the rest of them. Just people. I mean, how you manage to be a powerful immortal entity and still be a petty little child is beyond me, but you really do it quite well." She told him derisively.

Lucifer ground his teeth and stomped over to Gabriel.

"Control your pest, brother!" He growled.

Gabriel turned around, smirking. "Why? She put you in your place?" He asked him, now smiling widely.

Lucifer scoffed. "I'll never understand why you feel the need to roll around in the garbage."

Gabriel smirked at him "Dad likes her"

Lucifer made a face "And that's supposed to sell her?"

Gabriel snorted "Obviously not. I'm just saying that there's more to her than meets the eye. You might even like her."

"Don't be an idiot, brother. It's a human – a disease!"

Gabriel shrugged "Don't then. Your loss. I have to tell you though, that out of everyone in this room, including myself, she might be the only one you could win some sympathy with."

Dean was just about fed up with the bickering. Hermione being a witch had caught him off guard, and if there was something Dean Winchester hated – it was being caught off guard. He told himself, that he had known there was something fishy going on from the moment he laid his eyes on her, but that was a lie. Sure, he had had his suspicions, but she had seemed so small and harmless. And cute. He wasn't usually that distracted by a pretty face, but she had gotten the best of him, and he hated it.

"Alright, enough with the fighting!" He interrupted, as another argument started up, between Crowley and his mother, who still attempted to flirt with Chuck.

"Yeah, and no deals either. No talks of who is owed what if we survive this." Sam supplied.

"No one likes each other – It doesn't matter. We only have the fight ahead." Dean nodded.

"Amara's looking for me, but I'm warded against her, for now. The second I drop the warding, she'll show. She'll be expecting a fight, and we'll give it to her. Shock and awe. Shock and awe! Your troops are in position?" Chuck asked imperiously, the first show of leadership Hermione had seen from him.

Rowena was standing next to her, shifting her weight from one foot to another, wringing her hands. Eventually she raised one of them, unexpectedly.

Chuck cleared his throat in surprise. "Yes, Rowena?"

"Fabulous plan, God." She simpered "But doesn't this strike anyone as a wee bit un-strategic? Shouldn't we at least try to catch her off guard?"

There was a Slytherin if Hermione ever saw one. "I honestly doubt it will be possible to catch her completely off guard. After all, she is equal to God in power." She pitched in.

Rowena scowled at her, obviously not in agreement.

"Is that sequence set in stone? Demon, angel, witch power? Seems to me that the first response should come from the most disposable force." Crowley argued.

"Right! Good argument, Doggie. Demons first it is." Lucifer proclaimed cheerfully. Hermione couldn't help the chuckle escaping her lips, and Lucifer narrowed his eyes at her. She only lifted an eyebrow in return.

"The weakest should go first. Naturally, that means the witches." Crowley continued.

Both Rowena and Hermione looked at him, outraged. "Excuse you!" Hermione broke out.

"Enough" Sam interrupted, but Hermione kept scowling at Crowley. She disliked the slime ball more and more with each passing minute.

"After that, it's Lucifer and Gabriel's turn. Physical attack." Chuck sighed and looked to his sons, who both nodded.

"What about Cas?" Dean interrupted.

"Oh, don't worry. Your pet's safety is my highest concern." Lucifer mocked.

Dean glared at him, and practically growled.

Lucifer rolled his eyes "Trust me, he's on board."

After that, they broke into their own side arguments. Sam and Dean looked to have a small family drama, and the others discussed strategy.

"Demons will be our strength" Crowley pushed

"I'm just saying, angels can actually hurt her. It's worked before." Lucifer countered.

"If you call giving Amara a mild case of the pukes working. How are _you_ planning on getting killed, _mother_?" Crowley asked Rowena pleasantly.

She huffed impatiently "We're trying to disorientate her as much as hurt her. You underestimate witchcraft, Fergus, always have."

"Fergus?" Hermione mouthed incredulously.

"If anything, she's inoculated. Full-scale demon attack. That's our X-factor." Crowley insisted proudly.

"Wait, what did the angels attack her with?" Hermione asked Lucifer, who wrinkled his nose.

"Light, I'd imagine. She is 'The Darkness' after all." He replied, condescendingly.

Hermione nodded her head thoughtfully. "Rowena, what do you know about the Patronus-charm?"

"That it's pretty?" She shrugged, confused.

Hermione looked at her, exasperated. "It's light magic, in its purest form. If we could hit her with that, together, I'm sure it would make an impact."

Rowena winced "Sorry my love. Light and pure isn't exactly what I do."

Hermione pinched her nose and sighed. "Then what do you have in mind?"

Rowena smiled deviously, and Hermione was fast regretting to have asked.

"I have here, the Book of the Damned!" She exclaimed with more excitement than anyone was allowed, when talking about an object made of a dead person's skin, as she summoned the book.

Hermione cringed, but couldn't help but stare at the book in morbid curiosity. The sheer power emanating from it was staggering and made her slightly nauseous. Rowena held out the book for her to take, but she hesitated. Just looking at it felt forbidden, but actually _touching_ the thing, made her feel like it would somehow taint her. In the end curiosity won, and she weighed the book in her hand, feeling a want to destroy the thing.

"It's indestructible" Rowena told her proudly, as if she was reading her mind.

"Oh, I've destroyed an indestructible thing or two in my time" Hermione retorted. Rowena narrowed her eyes at her and looked at her, as if measuring her up.

"I have to admit, you seem stronger than the meek little girl in the Prophet." She pursed her lips.

Hermione laughed out loud. "I don't go for the glory." She smiled at Rowena.

"No, but not out of the goodness of your heart either, am I right? You want to prove yourself to be better – the best in fact. I can help you with that." She told Hermione slyly, circling her.

Hermione huffed a breath as she traced the corners of the book. "You're not wrong." She confessed. Rowena lighted up and smiled like the cat who got the canary.

"I rarely am, my dear." She nodded sagely.

"I _did_ have something to prove. I don't anymore though. I showed them that a muggleborn could have as much power as any pureblood, so I don't actually have anything to prove anymore." Hermione mused.

"Aye, child. You did show them, but we both know that sooner or later the fat aristocracy is going to corrupt the government again. Then what will you do? You'll need allies. Join my coven and then we can really show them!" Rowena gushed

Hermione raised an eyebrow at her. "You really think I would do that? Seriously? After all I've fought for, obviously, I'm not going into dark magic. What's going to happen is this: We'll defeat Amara, and afterwards, this book will be destroyed – don't worry, I have my ways. As for you, I know what's keeping you alive. I'll let you live, but only as long as you keep your nose clean. If I so much as smell your repulsive perfume, I will hunt you down and kill you. Don't think I don't have the manpower." She threatened.

Rowena took a step back, and put a hand on her chest in mock distress "You hurt me so. You think as low of me, when I'm really just so misunderstood." She looked at Hermione with a puppy-dog expression, that Hermione was unfazed by.

"This is a one-time deal. I could just as easily kill you along with the book, if you'd rather prefer that."

Rowena's face soured. "Fine. Be like that, girlie, but it might bite you in the arse." She growled at her as she swayed out the door.

Hermione rolled her eyes and sighed. She could feel the tension start building up as was inevitable before a battle. The tension wasn't helped by the book in her hands, that seemed to have an evil conscience of its own. She opened to study the lettering, but it was obviously written in an intricate code. Part of her couldn't wait to see it disintegrated, but another part of her wanted to dig out her old arithmancy and ancient runes text books to start cracking the code and unlock the secrets. Some secrets weren't supposed to be revealed though.

She was broken out of her musings, when a pair of arms reached out and embraced her from behind. She smiled, as Gabriel kissed her hair.

"That thing's disgusting." He remarked. "Did you disinfect it?"

Hermione snorted. "I doubt any sort of cleaning product can manage this." She dug out her trusty old beaded bag, and put it in there for safe-keeping, when suddenly the relative peace was interrupted by Rowena's voice reverberating through the powerplant

" _Attenuare!_ "

"She started without me?" Hermione asked incredulously and ran towards the door.

"Expecto Patronum!" She yelled, thinking of Gabriel as she ran outside.

She smiled widely at the sight of her familiar otter. It made more sense now. The freedom, the playfulness and the carefree nature of the animal that had followed her since fifth year, matched her silly angel perfectly in spirit.

The otter patronus shone brighter than she had ever seen it, as it swam through the air, around a confused looking woman clad in black. Rowena lay sprawled, panting on the ground and Hermione went to help her up.

"Who the hell are you?" The woman, Hermione assumed to be Amara asked.

"A concerned citizen you might say." Hermione smiled at her pleasantly and nodded.

The otter patronus that had been circling the woman suddenly charged, going straight into her chest. Amara's eyes widened, and she gasped, as if she had been dunked in ice cold water and Hermione took that as a cue to grab Rowena and run inside.

They got in not a moment too soon. As the door shut, the entire earth shook with the impact from the angels' collective smiting. A bright light shone through the small windows and the ceiling cracked. Afterwards everything went dark and Hermione saw black smoky streaks shoot across the sky, towards the point where she knew Amara to be. They sent shivers down her spine, reminding her too much of the Death Eaters. She looked up in curiosity, as Crowley started towards the door. He went outside, and spewed out the same kind of smoke, only blood red in color.

When Amara finally stumbled through the door, she was broken, burned and dirty. She scowled, finding the eyes of Chuck

"Hello, brother" She growled. "You cheated. Again. But –" Her sentence was cut off, when Lucifer stabbed her from behind.

Gabriel looked conflicted. He had his own angel blade in hand, but he hesitated, and when Lucifer was poised to strike again, he caught his arm. Lucifer wrenched out of Gabriel's grip, with a look of betrayal and confusion. He raised his blade to strike again, but Chuck raised a hand, looking at both his sons. Lucifer pursed his lips, looking at Gabriel, who shrugged.

"I'm sorry for this, for everything" Chuck apologized to his sister.

"An apology at last. What's sorry to me? I spent millions of years crammed into that cage alone and afraid, wishing, begging for death because of you! And what was my crime brother?"

Gabriel looked down. He knew what had been at stake, but that didn't mean he didn't sympathize with his aunt, who indeed had spent millennia in a padded cell. It really was no wonder she didn't know how to act. He stepped back, standing next to Hermione to watch the scene unfold.

"The world needed to be born! And you wouldn't let me! Amara, you gave me no choice." Chuck implored her.

"That's your story, not mine. The real reason you banished me, why I couldn't be allowed to exist was that you couldn't stand it. Yeah, we're equals. We weren't great or powerful because we stood only in relation to each other. You think you made the archangels to bring light? No. You made them to create lesser beings to make you large. To make you Lord. It was ego! You wanted to be big!" She scorned, standing up.

Chuck nodded slightly. "That's true" He admitted "But it isn't the whole truth. There's a value, a glory in creation that's greater and truer than my pride or my ego. Call it grace, call it being – Whatever it is, it didn't come from my hands. It was there waiting to be born. It just is, as you and I just were. Since you've been freed, I know you've seen it. Felt it." He argued.

"It didn't have to be like this. I loved you, brother." She hissed in disbelief. She chuckled pathetically. "Well, you've won again. Finish it. Kill me"

Hermione's heart broke for the creature before her. She couldn't imagine how it would be, but she knew desperation when she saw it, and she knew the outcome was worse than death for Amara. Chuck stood, close to tears, and when Amara started her panicked pleading, Hermione had to turn around and bury her face in Gabriel's shoulder.

"No. No! NO!" She screamed, as the mark burned off her.

"I'm so sorry" Chuck said, but to no use.

"No! Not again!" Amara yelled and choked Chuck, pushing him far off the ground. Lucifer tried to attack her from behind, but Amara banished him, sending him flying into a pillar.

"Goodbye nephew" she hissed, as she ripped Lucifer from the vessel.

"I'd die a million times and murder you a million more before going back there! Tell me, if you won't change then, why should I?" She turned back to Chuck.

Gabriel watched in horror, as black smoke curled out and stabbed through his father, creating large tears, where light was pouring out. It got too bright to watch, and suddenly Chuck dumped to the ground.

"Amara, what have you done?" Dean gasped.

"Is he – is he dead?" Gabriel whispered.

"No. But he is dying." Amara responded. "My brother will dim and fade away into nothing, but not until he sees what comes next. Not until he watches this world, everything he created, everything he loves turn to ash. Welcome to the end." She looked at them, unhinged before she disappeared and Gabriel's stomach dropped. An announcement like that was rarely followed by rainbows and cupcakes.


	11. Catching up with friends

For several seconds everyone stood, frozen in shock. Then Gabriel ran to his father and dropped to his knees.

"Dad?" He whispered. He sounded devastated, but what broke Hermione's heart more, were the wings that were hanging limply from his back, lying flat on the floor. She went over to him and put a hand on his shoulder in support.

Dean walked over to the prone form, that had been Lucifer only minutes before. He put a hand on his shoulder to check on him.

The figure in the trench coat sucked in a breath "Dean?" He asked in a gravelly voice, that sounded nothing like Lucifer.

"Cas? Hey, is that you?" Dean asked hopefully.

The angel frowned "Lucifer is gone. Amara ripped him from my body."

"To where?" Dean asked worriedly.

"I don't know." Dean helped him up, and they moved closer to the others, sitting around Chuck.

"Hey, can you hear me?" Sam asked. Chuck groaned and tried rolling over.

"There we go." Hermione mumbled and helped him to a sitting position.

Gabriel bit his lip. "How do you feel?"

Chuck winced. "You know, when you're driving, and a bug hits your windshield? – I'm the bug."

Gabriel frowned.

"So, what Amara said about you..." Sam started.

"Dying? Yeah, whatever she did to me, I can feel my spark, my light fading. And when it's gone…"

"Okay, well. Tell us how to fix you." Gabriel sniffled, sounding more like a scared little boy than he ever had.

Chuck looked at him sadly. "I'm sorry son, but you can't. Amara might be able to, but that's not going to happen."

Castiel went behind them and put a hand on Gabriel's other shoulder. Gabriel turned his head and rose to his feet, embracing him in a tight hug. They clapped each other's backs before Gabriel released him. Sam tried to help Chuck to a standing position, but God only slumped against him.

Rowena, who had stood, looking out the broken windows of the power plant they were occupying, cleared her throat. "Uh, boys?"

She was interrupted by her son, who appeared, seemingly out of nowhere.

"Well, that was a complete and utter dog's breakfast, wasn't it?"

The angel that Hermione had now identified as Castiel frowned "I didn't know dogs had breakfast." He stated confusedly.

"Cas is back." Dean stated unnecessarily. Gabriel looked at his clueless brother with a fond smile, and Hermione was trying to keep from laughing at an obviously serious time but couldn't help the amused smile that fought its way to her lips.

"Just curious – Has anyone bothered to look outside?" Rowena snarked.

Everyone went outside in dread of what they might find. Looking up, they saw the sky had taking an orange hue, looking as if it was on fire. The sun itself looked sick.

"What is it?" Dean asked confusedly.

Bewildered himself, Sam replied. "It looks like the sun is –"

"Dying" Hermione interrupted in a small voice.

"Why would Amara do that?" Sam asked.

"The sun is the source of all life, here on Earth. Without it, everything just wastes away." She continued in the same voice.

Hermione had never felt so ashamed. She had failed, but this time, the stakes had been higher. She had been arrogant, thinking they could take on Amara. She should have called Harry, as soon as she heard about the threat Amara posed. Now the bloody sun was dying, and the world along with it and it was all her fault.

Gabriel drew her in for a hug, and it wasn't until he released her, and she saw his wet shirt, that she realized she was crying.

"Let's get the hell out of here" Dean said, but before he could finish his sentence, they were all back in the Bunker already.

Everyone glanced around confusedly, and Crowley narrowed his eyes. "You" He pointed at Chuck, who was still being held up by Sam.

"I've still got a few tricks up my sleeve. I'm not dead ye –" Chuck tried standing straighter, but almost collapsed. Sam helped him to a place he could sit down.

"Well, what do we do now?" Castiel asked.

Everyone looked to each other, but Dean walked away. Sam followed in quick strides, along with Castiel, Hermione and Gabriel. Soon enough, they all poured into the kitchen, where Dean was standing in front of the counter, beer in hand.

"Really?" Hermione asked incredulously.

"Well, not for you, Sabrina, you're not even old enough." Dean told her.

"I'll have you know that I am." She scowled at him.

"But you don't even like beer." Gabriel pointed out.

"No, but I would have liked the option, you know?" She grumbled.

"Dean?" Sam prompted, when his brother had stalled.

Dean sighed. "What? We hit Amara with everything we got, and she walked it off."

"So, what? It's last call?" Sam asked, his brow wrinkled in confusion.

Dean nodded. "That's right. Look, man – if you've got something for me to punch, shoot or kill, let me know and I'll do it. I'll do it till I die. But how are we supposed to fix the friggin' sun?" He sighed in resignation.

Hermione sighed, and turned to walk out the door. She didn't want to be a witness to Dean Winchester's breakdown, because in her mind, it was her fault. They _hadn't_ hit her with everything. She could have summoned _dozens_ more witches and wizards, but she didn't. Why? Because they couldn't work together? No. I was her own arrogance, and reluctance to deal with the inevitable questions that would come from her friends.

She felt Gabriel's hand grab hers, and she turned around to give him a half-smile.

"I'm going to go check on dad. You going to be okay?" He asked her worriedly.

"Yeah, I'll be fine." She assured him, trying hard to keep a straight face. As soon as Gabriel turned his back, she turned around as well, walking down towards the room they had stayed in, tears streaming down her face.

…

Gabriel walked into the library, finding his dad in a chair, being fussed over by Rowena. He grimaced at her saccharine voice, that sounded like the hypnotizing swaying of a cobra, seconds before it kills you.

"Charles, I'll put the kettle on. My mum always said, there's nothing a nice wee cup of tea can't fix."

She walked past him and rolled her eyes at his scowl.

"She's using you" came from Crowley, who Gabriel hadn't seen lurking in the shadow. "It's what she does. Find someone with power, cozies up – digs her claws in."

"Yeah, well, I'm not helping anyone right now, obviously. She's been… nice" Chuck shrugged

Gabriel caught Crowley's eyes over the head of his father and imitated throwing up.

Crowley rolled his eyes "For now."

"Well, now is kind of all we've got." Chuck pointed out.

Crowley made a face. "Whatever. I'm not calling you dad."

"Hey!" Gabriel interrupted, indignant. "Screw calling him dad, there's no way I'll call that snake mom. Or you brother." He shuddered.

"Oh, am I grating on your delicate sensibilities?" Crowley asked amused.

"Look. I'll be frank – I kinda hate you." Gabriel said.

"But?"

"No no, that's it." Gabriel smiled.

…

Hermione sat on the bed, staring at the phone she had dug out of her pocket. How would she even begin to explain, what had happened? After a while, she realized, she wouldn't be able to find an answer to that and decided to call anyway. She waited with a bated breath, as she listened to the tone, indicating that the phone was making a call.

"Hermione?" The tired voice, indicated, that Harry had seen her Caller ID.

"Hi Harry." She whispered wetly.

"Hermione? What's wrong?" He asked worriedly.

"I broke the world, Harry. It's all my fault!" She was now crying in earnest.

"Hermione, that's silly." Harry sounded amused.

"No, Harry. I know it's still dark back home but find a television and turn it on. It's hard to explain, but it's my fault. I should have called you for help."

"For help? With what?" He asked, now starting to sound nervous.

"It's complicated. I didn't want to burden you with it, and now it backfired." She told him, sounding desolate.

"You know what? Tell me where you are. Then you can explain it to me."

Hermione sighed, hesitating. "… How far are you from Lebanon, Kansas?"

Harry chuckled. "You've got to be kidding me."

Hermione gave him the exact coordinates and used her wand to remove the evidence of her crying. Snot free and without red, puffy eyes, she stood up, with the intention to go outside to wait for him. Instead, she ran into her angel, who was coming towards her, frowning. She noted with amusement, that his wings were twitching with irritation, rather than bristling in anger or drooping like an injured canary. That was good, at least.

"What's got your wand in a knot?"

He raised an eyebrow at her, trying to gauge whether the innuendo had been intentional or not, and was rewarded, with a profound blush spreading across her cheeks.

"Have you ever experienced your parents flirting?" He asked her, exasperated.

She looked at him quizzically "Can’t say that I have." She grimaced.

"Ugh. It's just so _gross_! And _embarrassing_!" Gabriel whined.

Hermione giggled, shook her head and kissed him lightly on the cheek. She tried to manoeuvre around him, but Gabriel was having none of that and shoved her against the wall, kissing her deeply.

…

Harry really didn't know, what to make of the situation he had found himself in. Hermione wasn't known for being overdramatic, so crying over the phone seemed very uncharacteristic. Then again, she had made some rather uncharacteristic choices lately. At first, he had thought that maybe her arsehole of a roommate had broken her heart. He would have come either way, but her talking of a broken world made it feel a little more urgent, so he had gone directly to the ministry and went via international floo. A few blocks from MACUSA, he found an alley to apparate from.

He had thought she might have overreacted, just a tad. She generally put a lot of pressure on herself but staring at the burnt orange sky made what she said a little more plausible.

He was so preoccupied, that he failed to notice two sets of footsteps moving closer to him. He hadn't noticed the roar of the engine of the black car that had pulled up next to him, not until he was lying face first against the hood of said car.

"Who the hell are you" A gruff voice growled from behind him. He supposed the speaker was also the owner of the hand, pushing his face down against the cold metal.

"Uh, Dean?" Another gravelly voice said, hesitantly. "Perhaps it would be best to continue this inside?" Harry watched as a pair of polished shoes walked in front of the car, attached to a pair of legs and a tan trench coat.

"Fine" His captor grumbled and lifted him off the car, but stayed behind him, twisting his arm painfully as he marched them down a small flight of stairs to an entrance set into the ground. Absently, Harry was reminded of a hobbit hole, but it wasn't nearly as cozy, and the inhabitants were obviously far too violent.

He was marched down more stairs into a room that made him think of the old spy movies about the Cold War, he would sometimes sneak down to watch in the middle of the night, when he was still living with the Dursley's.

They walked into a room lined with books, tables and chairs, that were occupied by unfamiliar people.

"Harry!" He heard Hermione's voice exclaim somewhere to the left.

"What? You know this guy?" The guy slacked the grip on his arm and shoulder, and Harry wrestled himself out.

"Merlin's left tit, Hermione!" He yelled. "You could have warned me!"

He looked at her and saw her tousled hair and swollen lips – she really didn't look heartbroken.

"Hermione, what the hell is going on? Who are these people?" He asked, gesturing around.

"Oh!" A voice softly exclaimed "The saviour himself!" It sounded in Scottish and a woman, dressed in what would be appropriate for a ball approached him.

Harry sighed and ran a hand across his face. "Not one of those, Hermione?"

Hermione huffed. "No, she's not a gold digger. Are you, Rowena?" She ground out.

"Oh, no no, just a wee bit star struck, is all." The woman said, sweetly.

"Rowena? I take it she's one of ours?" Harry asked Hermione rhetorically.

"No. Not really." Hermione replied, narrowing her eyes at the red head.

"Maybe we could sit down and make some introductions and you can explain what's going on?" Harry suggested, taking a seat at a nearby table

"Harry, my man!" A dreaded voice sounded, making Harry bury his face in his hands. He sighed deeply, trying to calm himself.

"Gabriel." He groaned, looking up to see the shit-eating grin his nemesis was sporting.

"How's it going with that hair trimmer I sent you?"

"Piss off, you wanker." Harry grumbled, vaguely hearing Hermione hissing "You did _what_?!" at Gabriel in the corner. That made him smirk. He leaned back in the chair, observing everyone else in the room. There was the guy with the trench coat, the ball-gown woman, a short man with a full beard drinking whiskey, the man who had caught him who was still scowling at him, a man he supposed must be a half-giant and a sick looking guy, who his eyes finally landed on.

"You. You're different."

The man nodded appreciatively. "Sharp as ever, Harry. Just call me Chuck."


	12. Haggis

Harry looked at each of the occupants in the room. Most of them seemed uncomfortable with each other, and he could sense something off with several of the people there, but he refrained speaking about auras, because he was afraid of sounding too much like Luna. "Could we perhaps make some introductions?"

Hermione looked around, insecurely. "Well, you obviously know Gabriel and me. And Rowena you've met. The gentlemen who followed you in are Dean and Castiel.

"Not bloody gentle" Harry grumbled. "Something is off about him." He gestured vaguely in Castiel's direction.

"I'm an angel of the lord." The trench coated man replied seriously. Harry's eyes rose high up his forehead. "There's the same stuff around your boyfriend" He turned back to Hermione, who blushed.

Gabriel smirked widely. "Archangel here." He said, waving a hand.

Harry shook his head lightly "Insane."

Hermione snorted. "You don't even know half of it. The tall one over there is Sam, he's Dean's brother. They hunt the supernatural."

"Like 'us' supernatural?" Harry's eyes widened as Hermione slowly nodded and Dean seemed to get even more tense than he already was, which ought to have been impossible.

"And I'm Crowley. King of Hell. I'm a demon." The short man in the black suit stepped forward and offered his hand to Harry, who just looked at it in horror.

"Demon? Seriously? What's going on?" He turned to look at Hermione, who looked like she'd rather not be put on the spot. She was fidgeting with the hem of her shirt, and looked at the ceiling, before turning to him to answer.

"There's been a kind of crisis. Or, well, it's still going on, I suppose, but it's gotten worse. I didn't want to involve you. God knows you've had enough on your plate – "

"Yeah, I really do." Chuck nodded. Harry narrowed his eyes at him, trying to determine whether or not the man was joking.

Hermione cleared her throat "Yes, well. We made an attack, and we failed. It was my fault. I should have asked you for help" She started crying again, and Gabriel put an arm around her, drawing her close.

Chuck sighed "Hermione, I honestly think it wouldn't have made a difference."

"How – how can you say that?" She hiccupped. "You're dying! The sun is dying!"

"The sun?" Harry interrupted. "The bloody sun is dying?"

"And God" Hermione whispered gesturing at Chuck. "God is dying too."

Harry's eyes widened comically. "So that's what was so different about him." He breathed.

Chuck nodded ruefully. "Not for much longer though."

"So, we need to do something." Sam butted in. "We kill Amara."

"Wait, so now you want to kill her? You're cool with this?" Dean asked, incredulously.

Sam huffed "Look, Chuck's dying. No offence, God."

Chuck rolled his eyes. "Yeah, no, I – I'm dying. So, we don't really have a choice. I mean, look. You've got darkness and light. You take away one side and – " He forced out.

"It upsets the scales – the whole balance of the universe" Castiel supplied.

"Exactly. But if you take both away, then both sides of the scale are empty" Sam continued.

"Of course. It's balanced." Castiel finished.

Dean nodded. "Right, yes, okay. Hey, I'm game, but how exactly are we gonna do this? I mean, Lucifer hit her with a-a Hand of God, and, well, we saw how that turned out."

"She does seem impossible to destroy" Castiel agreed.

Crowley sat down at the table, rolling his eyes. "If he can die, then so can she. They're equal, after all." He said, nodding at Chuck.

Harry's head was spinning. "I think you need to give me some backstory, here." He said, rubbing his scar, out of habit.

Chuck sighed. "Well, as mentioned earlier, I am – I am God. But just call me Chuck. Amara is my sister, who is hellbent on destruction. I may or may not have held her trapped for a couple of billion years."

Harry's brow wrinkled in confusion "But I thought there was supposed to be nothing before the beginning?"

"Well, that's a common misconception." Chuck nodded sheepishly.

"Yeah, because we weren't allowed to speak about it." Gabriel muttered under his breath.

Chuck scowled at him.

"Anywho. She was a bit upset at me keeping her caged, so she decided to destroy the world I created. She is the opposite to me. I'm the Light, the creator, she's the Darkness, the destroyer"

Harry smiled without humour. "So, we need to save the world, eh?"

"Yes!" Sam exclaimed. "So, how do we do it? Chuck?"

Chuck shrugged. "Well, I mean – Well, I – " He floundered.

"Well, Chuck?" Hermione sighed, exasperated.

He sighed. "All right. Fine. The Darkness might have a weakness."

"Which is?" Crowley scowled at Chuck, when he took away his drink.

"Light," Chuck said, downing Crowley's glass of whiskey.

Hermione nodded, thinking about her conversation with Lucifer.

"Now he tells us" Crowley sighed incredulously.

"What? I just wanted to trap her. I didn't want to murder her." Chuck swallowed.

"Okay, but now that we _are_ trying to end her, how much light are we talking about?" Sam asked indelicately, making Hermione nudge him with her elbow.

"I don't know" Chuck shrugged. "10,000 suns set to supernova?"

Dean looked at him "Well, you're God. So, just god them up."

Chuck chuckled self-deprecatingly. "Look at me. I'm not really in the best shape right now."

"Okay, that's all right" Sam nodded. "We just need other ideas." He looked around the room "Rowena – What about the Book of the Damned?"

She shook her head slowly. "This is beyond even that."

"Hermione?" He looked at her expectantly.

"I may have an idea, but it's not going to be anywhere near enough. Perhaps we could use the same kind of strategy, attack in several turns to weaken her?" She suggested.

"That could be a plan. Crowley?"

"Oh, I got nothing" Crowley shrugged.

"Well, what about souls? They fuel your demon deals." Castiel pointed out. Hermione and Harry looked at him questioningly. "Souls are living batteries. They're full of energy. Full of light. Each one is as powerful as… a hundred suns?" He tried to explain.

"He's not wrong." Rowena butted in.

"Okay, so if we got this kind of juice. Then what?" Dean asked.

"You get me enough souls… I can build a bomb." Rowena said thoughtfully.

"Would that do the trick?" Dean asked Chuck.

"Uh, maybe?" He shrugged unhelpfully.

"But – " Hermione tried

"Alright. Plan B." Sam interrupted

"Guys?"

"Okay, how many souls are we talking about here?" Dean asked Rowena

"The more, the better."

"Even if you could get that kind of firepower – you really think it would work?" Crowley argued, and Hermione felt ready to stomp her foot.

"GUYS! If we go through with that. A bomb like that, with that much power – wouldn't it obliterate the rest of the planet along with Amara?"

Chuck bit his lip. "I don't know, honestly. Souls are a bit unpredictable like that."

Sam took a deep breath. "It's a risk we have to take. Either way, the world is dying as it is. We are at a point, where we really can't make much more damage." He looked at her heavily and Gabriel put a hand on her shoulder.

Castiel sighed deeply "I can ask the angels. Heaven is full of souls."

"Okay. What else have we got?" Sam rubbed his face.

"Ghosts." Dean added. Sam raised an eyebrow at him. "What? They're just souls with baggage, right?"

"Yeah, but we would need a whole lot of them." Sam pointed out.

Dean nodded thoughtfully. "Waverly Hills."

"Waverly Hills Sanatorium." Sam nodded, chuckling. "Of course. Thousands died there."

Harry frowned at the two of them. "And you're not going to ask the ghosts if they want to?"

Sam looked at him confusedly "No?"

"But that's not fair. They will cease to exist." Harry argued.

"Look, Harry was it? These aren't friendly ghosts. They will rip your guts out if you let them. Besides, they're already dead and most of them are suffering." Dean told him pointedly.

Harry made a face, thinking about Nick, his old house ghost. He knew about poltergeists, of course, but other than Peeves, who was more mischievous than malignant, he didn't have much experience with them.

He swallowed and nodded once, locking eyes with Hermione. "Fine. But I would prefer if one of us went with you."

Crowley sighed. "This is desperate. And stupid."

"Well, desperate and stupid's pretty much all we got now." Dean pointed out.

"Fine." Crowley made a face and leaned back in his chair. "I'll got raid Hell and see what's left." He sighed.

"Do you think we need more backup?" Harry asked Hermione.

She nodded thoughtfully, still ashamed. "Yes, I think it's all hands-on deck."

"Wait, what do you mean, more backup?" Dean scowled. "More witches?"

Harry nodded. "And wizards"

"Not in my house, you don't." Dean growled.

Hermione rolled her eyes. "Dean has an _issue_ with witches."

"What, but he's willing to work with a demon?" Harry asked incredulously.

"I just don't like too many people knowing the location of this place" Dean grumbled.

"Okay, we'll find somewhere else then." Hermione conceded. "How many do you think still have their coins?" She asked Harry who smiled.

"Just a thing, dearie. I need that book you have in that wee little bag" Rowena interrupted saccharinely. A tone of voice that sent chills down Harry's spine. He watched as Hermione tensed, but she fished out a grisly looking book, nonetheless.

Rowena reached to take it, but Hermione held it back. "Under supervision only" She growled at the other witch.

"Uh, right. Let's get to work?" Sam cut them off in a fake cheerful voice. It was going to be a long day, Harry decided.

…

Harry had seen plenty of horror movies. Certainly enough, not to want to enter the dilapidated building in front of him. His two companions had other ideas though, and he had no choice but to keep up. He had signed himself up after all.

"You really think this is going to work?" Dean asked sceptically.

Sam shrugged. "Rowena said it would."

"Oh. Yeah. 'It's a Book of the Damned spell, boyos. Take this wee crystal. It'll suck up all the blimey ghosts. Just say the magic word'" Dean mocked in a horrible Scottish accent.

"Hey, don't forget. Hermione signed off on that too." Harry argued.

Dean scoffed. "Yeah, like that means anything to me." He grumbled.

In a second, the hunter was lying flat on his back with a wand pressed against his trachea. "It bloody well should." Harry growled. "It's thanks to her, the world isn't under a magical dictatorship right now."

"Easy there, tiger. She already has a boyfriend" Dean said, with the tiniest hint of bitterness.

Harry sighed exasperatedly. "Why does everyone think it's like that?" He asked, standing up and brushing off his knees. "Hermione is literally the smartest witch in generations and she just so happen to be my best friend. She's like a sister to me."

Sam raised his hands. "Okay. No disrespect" He glanced pointedly at Dean, who scowled back. "We have a job to do." He reminded them.

They turned back towards the building, and another shudder ran through Harry.

The inside might as well have been the outside. The elements had had free range over the years and there was water and dry leaves everywhere. Sam had taken out the EMF detector and was trying to explain the functionality of it, but Harry could barely hear him over the wailing that came from the machine.

Harry sucked in a breath, when he saw he first ghost flickering in a doorway. It was going in and out of focus and came towards them before disappearing again.

"Place really lives up to the hype" Sam remarked casually.

"Yes, it does" Dean agreed.

"They're so broken." Harry whispered.

"What?" Dean looked at him incredulously.

"Ghost's don't look like that, where I come from." Harry shook his head. "And I've seen plenty of them. I was at a deathday party once."

Sam raised his eyebrows. "A party?" He asked sceptically, but Harry only nodded as they entered, what he guessed must have been the dayroom, when the Sanatorium had been functional.

"Alright. Let's bust some ghosts." Dean smirked.

Sam took out a canister of salt and started making lines around the room. Harry looked on in interest.

"It's going to keep them in the room." Dean explained. "But where the hell are, they? Get your Casper asses out here!" He yelled.

"You know what? Why don't you finish up? I'll go piss them off." Sam tossed Harry the canister, and Harry looked in horror as the tall hunter ran down the hall, armed with a shotgun. Suddenly a ghost materialized right next to Harry, and Dean shot it with a round of rock salt, making Harry almost pee in his pants.

"Salt or iron. You should arm yourself, there's a crowbar in the bag." Dean nodded towards the military bag in the middle of the room, which was overflowing with weapons and salt and the crystal they were supposed to trap the ghosts in.

Harry gulped and grabbed the weapon, just in time to swing it at a ghost that was rushing towards him, obviously with no good intentions.

It didn't take long before Sam was running back towards the room, shooting as he went.

"Alright, I think it worked!"

In seconds, the room was flooded in ghosts, all trying to kill them. Harry swung the crowbar like a madman. Dean and Sam were shooting salt rounds, trying to keep the ghosts at bay. Dean kneeled at the bag, trying to get to the crystal, but was attacked, making the crystal slide across the floor in Harry's direction. Sam was being choked by a ghost that looked even larger than him.

Harry fended off the ghost that was coming at him, and he threw himself to the floor, grabbing the stone. He realized then that he didn't know the word to trigger the spell.

"Dean! Magic word!" He yelled and threw the crystal high in the air.

"Haggis!" Dean cried.

If felt as if time stood still, and as if all oxygen was sucked out of the room the same as the ghosts. A purple light shone from the crystal, blinding them, and in a split second, it was all over and the three of them sat on the floor panting.

"Go, magic word, huh?" Sam remarked.

Harry snorted. "Haggis? Really?"


	13. The Cavalry

Back in the bunker, things were looking glum when they returned.

"So, what's up?" Dean asked as they descended the stairs leading down to the war room. He threw the bag on the table and sat down next to it. Harry went over to sit next to Hermione, who was sitting in a chair next to Gabriel.

Hermione looked over the faces that were painted in various degrees of disappointment. She was especially keeping an eye on Rowena. She had the idea, that the witch would try and make off with the Book of the Damned, but she had returned it to Hermione promptly after fixing up the spell for the crystal, making Hermione even more suspicious. The redhead was playing all the horses she could find though, and at the moment she was sitting on the small steps that led to the library, mothering Chuck, much to Crowley and Gabriel's disgruntlement.

Castiel sighed. "The angels are – Heaven won't help."

Dean frowned. "They know this is the end, right? Of everything. Including Heaven."

"Yes." Castiel nodded dejectedly.

"What, and they don't care?" Sam questioned.

Castiel huffed. "No, it's not that. It's…"

"They know that God is dying, and they don't think we can win this. Souls or no souls. They're sealing Heaven and are quote: "Dying with dignity". I even made a killer sales pitch." Gabriel frowned.

"Well, that's awesome" Dean said, his voice leaking sarcasm.

Sam sighed. "All right, Crowley. What about you?"

"Well, I _had_ all the souls we needed." The demon snarked.

Dean narrowed his eyes. "What do you mean " _Had_ "?"

"While I was indisposed, a few of my demonic pals decided to raid my stash!" Crowley fumed.

"Well, what we have – it's not enough." Castiel pointed out.

In a matter of seconds, all hell broke loose. Red lights started flashing, and everyone reached for their weapons. Hermione had already been on edge and had her wand in hand, stunning spell on the tip of her tongue. Gabriel had been trying to teach her not to rely on the magical piece of wood, or 'the stick' as he called it, but old habits die hard, and since they were picked up by the Winchesters she had taken to keeping it on her person again.

"Well, that could be nothing but good news" Crowley rolled his eyes.

Footsteps were heard from the entrance to the bunker, and wands, angel blades and guns were aimed to fire. The door opened and a black skinned woman in a leather jacket looked around appreciatively.

"Nice digs."

Harry instantly relaxed, to everyone's confusion and lowered his wand. Dean and Sam soon followed though.

"Billie" Harry greeted. And Dean and Sam looked at him as if he had grown a second head.

"Wait, you two know each other?" Sam uttered incredulously.

"If you're here about the offer, I'm still not saying yes." Harry looked at the reaper pointedly.

Billie smiled at him sweetly. "I know, Honey. That's not why I'm here."

"Who is she?" Rowena asked.

"Billie. She's a reaper, and she wants us dead. Tons of fun" Dean replied sarcastically, narrowing his eyes at Harry for the familiarity the two were displaying.

"Harry, what offer is a reaper making to you?" Hermione asked shakily, dreading the answer.

Harry sighed heavily. "Apparently, some morons decided to kill Death. The reapers want me to take up the mantle."

Dean looked down ashamedly. He had forgotten about that mishap.

Hermione covered her mouth with her hands. It was all too much. Harry had known he would never be normal, but this was too much to demand of anyone. Starting out as The Boy who lived and ending as Death himself. They had discussed at length, what kind of consequences there would be from using the Deathly Hallows, but this was beyond imagination.

"Wait a minute, why would she want you to take over? No offence, but what's so special about you?" Sam questioned.

Harry rubbed a hand over his face, but it was Billie, who answered.

"That's what's to be expected when you're the Master of Death." She said, smirking.

"The what?" Dean asked uncomprehendingly.

"No! You didn't?" Rowena exclaimed. "The Hallows? Even I thought they were just a children's tale"

"I wish" Harry mumbled darkly.

"Would someone just explain what's going on?" Dean exploded.

Billie turned to him, staring at him with an eerie glint in her eyes.

"But if you're not here about that, then what are you doing here?" Harry asked, trying desperately to dodge Deans questions.

"I saw you boys at Waverly Hills, and call me a curious kitten, but with credits about to roll, I gotta ask – why are you boys busting ghosts?" Billie asked, looking at each of them in turn.

Gabriel didn't like the way the reaper looked at him and Hermione. He knew Hermione was going to die someday. Lucifer had been right about that, but that didn't mean he wanted to think about it. Averting his thoughts proved difficult with a freaking reaper, staring at Hermione as if she wanted to consume her. He thought about pranking her but knew she would come out on top. Archangels might be powerful, but reapers were another deal entirely. That didn't stop him from imagining her with pink hair though.

Dean made a face "Why do you care?"

She gave him a deadpan look "Dead folks. Kind of my thing. So – spill."

"We're collecting souls to build a bomb" Sam sighed.

"To blow the Darkness to hell." Dean nodded towards the bag, with the crystal that was glowing.

Billie nodded. "Okay"

Dean and Sam both looked at her, frowning.

"Uh, what do you mean "okay"?" Gabriel asked her.

She sighed "Means the way things are going, I'm about an hour away from reaping God himself" She gestured at Chuck, who was slumped between Rowena and the wall.

"So, you're here to help us?" Castiel asked.

Billie tilted her head. "Little tip – you want souls, call a reaper."

She walked closer to the table, but Dean went to stand between her and the crystal.

"Whoa there, sister." He frowned at her.

She gave him a deadpan look (no pun intended) "Dean, the way things are, do you really have anything to lose?"

Dean held his ground, and Gabriel huffed. "Just give the girl the damn rock."

In the end, Harry summoned the stone with his wand and gave it to Billie, Dean scowling at him.

"Oh, give it up, Dean. Death and reapers are all about balance. If there's anyone who would want to help, it's her." Harry rolled his eyes.

"Fine" The surly hunter conceded.

Billie winked at Harry and took the stone. When she held it out in front of her, the purple crystal started glowing, and the others looked in awe as the glowing lights of souls came streaming through the room and into the stone. All to soon it was done, and Billie was standing with the stone, which was now shining brightly.

"How many souls are in there?" Gabriel asked curiously.

"A couple hundred… thousand. A raided the Veil. Like I said, dead folks – kind of my thing." Billie smirked. "We good?" She asked Rowena

"Very" Rowena eyed the stone hungrily and went to take it, but Hermione cut her off.

"That's not going to happen" Hermione narrowed her eyes at the other witch.

Rowena pursed her lips. "Fine. See if I care."

Harry started to be very curious about what Hermione knew that he didn't.

Billie rolled her eyes and started to walk out "Super"

"See you around" Dean called out to her.

"Yeah. You will. Just hope it's not today." She replied over her shoulder.

"So, what now?" Castiel asked when the reaper had left the building.

Dean shrugged "Well, now we have the bomb, so we just got to find Amara."

"I can track her. She's not warded anymore. Why would she be? She won." Chuck bid in weakly.

"But we still need someone to get close to her for the bomb to work. Someone with a personal connection?" Gabriel asked, waggling his eyebrows at Dean who huffed

"Well, what are we waiting for then? How do I smuggle this thing?"

"We could always shove up your – " Crowley started.

"Hey!" Dean interrupted, indignant

The demon shrugged. "I mean, you could"

"You won't carry the bomb. You'll _be_ the bomb" Rowena looked to Hermione for help.

Gabriel looked at Hermione, frowning.

"I'm completely against this, for the record. She wants to take what's in there and put it in here." She stood up and pointed from the stone, and put a hand on Dean's chest, much to Gabriel's consternation.

"Once you get close to her, you press your fingers together like so – and boom" Rowena continued, pinching together her thumb and forefinger.

Dean frowned and sighed, and Hermione realized she still had a hand on his chest. She quickly removed it and went to stand next to Gabriel, who put his arm around her.

"Okay." The hunter agreed.

"I want to try something else first though. We have a group of witches and wizards coming in about an hour. We have our own kind of magic to try." Hermione said, narrowing her eyes at Rowena.

…

Gabriel had a… tense relationship with most of Hermione's friends. They felt as if he had stolen her from them, which in all fairness, he had. Especially the lanky ginger with the bad complexion and worse attitude was coming down on him. He had thought his little visit would have made an impression, but unfortunately the guy had a hard time understanding a hint. Or direct speech as it was. The rodent was nothing if not persistent.

He liked the blonde chick. She might have seemed spaced out, but it was very rare to meet a human as perceptive as she was.

Her world was so ruled by intuition alone, that he highly doubted she even needed her large eyes to navigate. He had often toyed with the idea of taking away her vision, if only to see what would happen, but every time he thought about it, Hermione would send him a look that made him wonder if she could read his mind. He was looking forward to seeing her again.

Dean had believed so highly in his odds of survival, that he had gone on a festive trip to see his mother’s grave. His brother and pet angel accompanying him, of course. As much as Gabriel loved his little brother, Castiel's obsession with the elder Winchester was starting to annoy him.

At the moment, he was standing around with Hermione and Harry, in a sorry excuse of a bar, waiting for the witches and wizards to come. The owner of the place had apparently decided that they didn't need to make more money since the world was ending. A healthy point of view in his opinion, and he didn't mind pouring his own drinks. He caught Hermione frowning at him, as he came, carrying three glasses of whiskey. She still took it, however grudgingly. Harry just stared suspiciously at the liquor.

"Will it turn any part of me purple?" He asked the archangel.

"Would I ever?" Gabriel looked at Harry innocently.

When Harry kept staring at him in suspicion, he rolled his eyes. "It's fine, don't worry. Your precious curls will stay the way they are."

Hermione looked at him in confusion "But Harry doesn't have cur – oh. Oh." She made a face.

They all looked up at the first popping sound that came from outside.

At the second pop, they heard a muffled "Blimey, move over!"

Soon there were so many popping sounds, that Gabriel was almost waiting for the ping of a microwave.

When the popping sounds stopped, they all went outside.

"Hermione!"

Hermione looked up at the sound of her name, only to be tackled by a long-limbed red-haired male

"Oomph! Get off me Ronald" She grunted.

Gabriel frowned. It was going to be a hard day.


	14. What do you do when you're sad and alone?

It had been all of two seconds and Gabriel already had a headache. He sneered before peeling the ginger off Hermione, trying very hard to resist the temptation to break every bone in his body. _Ronald_ paid him no mind though, and just kept on gushing over his girl.

"Blimey, Hermione! It's so good to see you! You're looking great!"

By the looks of it, he wasn't the only one to be unappreciative of the situation. A girl with facial scars was standing near the exit, frowning at the scene.

"We were worried. What's going on?" Another redhead butted in. Gabriel rolled his eyes. It was like the invasion of gingers. There were others as well, but the Weasleys had a certain presence to them, that would only be overdone by Luna, who was also standing, smiling at him. The guy he knew as Neville was there as well along with scar-girl, who he hadn't met before.

He was startled though, when Hermione took his hand, looking at him, prompting him to speak.

"Well, uh." He started eloquently. He scratched his neck and started pacing. It was incredible how nervous you could get, even as an all-powerful archangel, being put on the spot like that. "The thing is, that you guys don't know all that much about me."

"Yeah, no kidding" Ron's voice sounded in the background.

He bit his lip, fantasizing about giving the idiot a wedgie that would reach the ceiling. Coming out was much harder than he had anticipated. He looked down to his feet, but smiled, when he felt Hermione squeezing his hand. He sighed and looked back at the crowd of people, who all looked curious to finally get some information on Hermione's mysterious roommate.

"I'm not really a wizard, as some of you might have believed. Hell, I'm not even _human_." He saw Luna standing in the back, smiling knowingly. It was strange how some people could give you comfort and freak you out simultaneously.

"Then, what are you?" Ginny asked, frowning sceptically.

"I'm an angel." He looked around at all the varied expressions of disbelief. Except for Luna of course, she was still just smiling serenely.

Ron snorted "That's barmy."

"Why are you always so sceptical, Ronald? You didn't believe in the Crumple-Horned Snorkack either." Luna interrupted in her dreamy voice, making Gabriel crack a smile.

Ron floundered for a moment, apparently struggling to find a way to tell his friend that he _still_ didn't believe in the elusive magical entity that Luna had been working towards discovering with her father since early childhood.

"That - that's not the point." He ended up stuttering "How do we know he's telling the truth?" He fumed.

Hermione frowned at him "How about because I say so? Because I trust him. And I've known all along. You wouldn't believe the things I've seen!" She finished smiling at the fond memories.

Ron looked at her with betrayal. "So, you're saying that it's true, and you've known all along, and you've been lying to us all this time?"

"Hermione, what's going on?" Ginny implored, stepping closer to them.

Hermione sighed. "It's true. Gabriel is an angel, an archangel more precisely, which makes his father God."

"Wow, you're really moving up, Hermione" The girl who had been frowning at Hermione and Ron said with one of the fakest smiles Gabriel had seen.

Hermione for her part just rolled her eyes. "I'm not moving up, down or sideways, Lavender. We really have other issues at hand at the moment."

Lavender crossed her arms defensively. "Fine. What issues then?"

"God is dying. His sister, Amara, also known as the Darkness before all creation was let out of the cage she had been in for billions of years. Needless to say, she wasn't happy about being imprisoned for so long, but God is adamant that it was necessary for him to be able to create the world. Now, she has wounded him, and he is slowly dying. The darkness is taking over because the light is dying and we need to do something about Amara, in order to restore the balance." Hermione ranted.

"It does seem rather farfetched." Ginny said carefully.

"Yeah, well. You guys aren't exactly run of the mill either." Gabriel argued, suddenly feeling defensive about his heritage.

"Listen." Harry interrupted, to Gabriel's relief. "They're telling the truth. I met God myself, he's even inside, if you don't believe me. And I know that the most of you, who've met Gabriel know, that he's not exactly your everyday wizard, I've certainly seen him reach a level of craziness, that otherwise can't be explained. We need to do this. The world is literally going to end, and we need to try everything if we're going to have even the slightest hope of saving it." He pointed out, now in full on saviour mode.

Gabriel had to hand it to him – the guy was good. All the others were standing, eating up every word he said – those people would follow him into battle without question. That kind of power was very dangerous, but luckily Harry was a good guy. So far at least.

"Look. I know most of you don't like me. I haven't exactly given you a reason to like me, I've pranked the most of you within an inch of your life" He ignored Hermione's disapproving frown. "This is bigger than that though. This is about the entire world an all its animals, men, women, children and everything in between." He looked at them in turn. "Let's go inside."

"Wait, before we go in, I want you to understand that this is a desperate situation, which means that all hands are on deck. Even the more unsavoury ones." Hermione made a face, thinking about Crowley and Rowena.

Several sets of eyebrows crinkled in confusion, but they all entered the bar anyhow.

Inside they were met by the sight of Chuck slumped in a chair at a pair of tables, next to Rowena who was looking much perkier and stood up as the group walked in. Crowley took a look at them and sighed deeply

"This? This is what you call a cavalry?" He asked, managing to sound equally incredulous and exasperated. "It's the end of the bloody world and this is who you call?"

"Oh, hush Fergus! Those children are heroes! You wouldn't understand." Rowena smiled in a way that best resembled a shark and a collective shudder went through the group.

"So, uh. This is God." Hermione started introducing.

"Yeah. I know I'm not looking so hot right now. Just call me Chuck."

"Crowley." The demon smiled mockingly.

"And I am Rowena, children." Rowena purred, opening her arms in welcome.

"It's a shame you don't live up to your name" Luna of all people snarked, her eyes narrowed at the red-haired witch in an expression Hermione hadn't seen on the young woman since fighting Bellatrix at the Battle of Hogwarts.

The dark witch's smile fell slightly at the barb, but she continued, nevertheless. "Come in, ladies and gentlemen, take a seat."

The group all looked over at Harry and Hermione, who nodded at gestured at the tables at which Chuck sat.

"So, what's the plan?" Neville finally asked Harry.

"Right. Hermione?" Harry prompted.

"Amara is the darkness, and her weakness is light, but furthermore, she is hurt and emotionally unstable. What do any of you do, when you feel sad or lonely?" She asked the group.

"Drink?" Crowley suggested ever unhelpful.

"Patronus charm" Ginny smiled.

"Exactly. We fought her before, and she seemed affected from it, but I think if we send our collective patronuses at her, it could really make an impact." Hermione said excitedly. She looked at the others, who looked intrigued, except for George who sat back, frowning.

"The plan is that we all use the patronus charm and send them at her. At the very least, it's going to weaken her in preparation for the other attack we have planned." Harry continued.

They sat for a while, discussing the details of the plan as well as the plan sat in motion, with the soul bomb. Everyone was asking questions, intrigued by the situation, except for Chuck who was trying to stay alive, and George, who slipped outside unnoticed except by Gabriel, who slowly made his way after him.

Outside, George was pacing, but halted when he saw Gabriel coming out. Gabriel could see the muscles in his jaws working.

"Out with it. What's eating ya?"

"Why didn't you tell me?" The usually jovial ginger hissed.

"Uh, tell you what exactly?" Gabriel raised an eyebrow

George ran a hand down his face. "You know, we've laughed, we've shared some of the best pranks known to mankind, and you don't even tell me that you're an angel?"

"Well, I didn't really think it was relevant" Gabriel shoved his hands in his pockets defensively.

"Relevant? You didn't think it was relevant to tell me, that you had the ability to tell if my brother was in heaven or not!?" George exploded.

Gabriel sighed. "I hadn't really been able to check. I've been in exile you might say. But what do you think, honestly? Your brother, heaven or hell?" He asked rhetorically.

"Heaven. Obviously. Hell wouldn't be able to handle him." George shrugged dully.

"Exactly! I went there with all this hoo-hah going on. His heaven is completely insane. I don't even know how to describe it. They even labelled his door "danger zone" with yellow tape and everything. They never label doors. He's doing you proud up top, don't worry about that." Gabriel assured him.

George snorted.

Gabriel nodded slowly "Something else is up, isn't there?"

"I haven't been able to conjure a patronus since the Battle of Hogwarts. You know. Since Fred. All my best memories were with him, and now…"

Gabriel smiled at him and put a hand on his shoulder. "I've met him now, you know. And I think I know what he would tell you. Do you know?"

George bit his lower lip, trying desperately to hold back the tears. "I know." He nodded, trying to sober up.

"I'm gonna head inside – "

"Wait!" George interrupted. "You and Hermione?" he inquired.

"You shut up." Gabriel told him, but his smile and blossoming cheeks said more than he wanted to.

George smirked. "Oh, Fred would have skinned you."

"Really?" Gabriel asked incredulously.

"He never told me, but I knew. Hell, of course I knew. Just take care of her, yeah?" George looked at him pointedly.

Gabriel nodded seriously. Probably more serious than anyone had ever seen him. "Of course." He stretched his hand to George, who shook it firmly.

"Good. That's all I ask."

…

"Chuck?" Hermione asked once the majority of the questions had died down or been answered.

"Do you think it might work?" God groaned weakly.

"I think, at this time, that our choices are limited, at that it can't hurt." She told him carefully.

"She's still my sister, you know." He smiled ruefully.

Hermione nodded. "I know."

Chuck sighed. "Fine."

He snapped his fingers, and the whole group of witches and wizards were suddenly standing in a small park, looking around confusedly.

"Well, it's certainly different from apparition" Lavender pointed out after righting herself.

"It's you again" A voice interrupted.

Amara, the Darkness stood tall behind them.

"Amara." Hermione bowed her head in respect. "Please reconsider what you're doing to your brother and the rest of the world?"

Amara laughed. "Reconsider? That's funny. Don't you think I asked my _brother_ to ' _reconsider'_ locking me up for billions of years? No. My pain _will_ be felt." She ground out.

Hermione sighed. "Alright. Then you give us no choice." She raised her wand.

"Expecto patronum!" She cried along the seven other voices.

A stag, a lion, a cat, a horse, an otter, a hare, a squirrel and a dog, all shimmering in a silver light, came crashing towards the woman in black.

One after one, the animals went through Amara, making her shudder as she was flooded with the unfamiliar emotions they brought. Some held heartbreak and loss. Some the comfort of friends and family and some the all-consuming love that the owners had filled them with.

The group left one by one, with oddly misplaced popping noises, leaving Amara heaving on her hands and knees.

The only one who didn’t leave immediately was Hermione, who knelt down next to Amara.

“I understand why you’re angry. You have every right to be. But don’t let it consume you. I hope you will find it within yourself to let it go, and hopefully replace it with something else.” She gave Amara a small smile before she too, disappeared with a ‘pop’


	15. I wanna go home

When they returned to the bar, Dean, Castiel and Sam had arrived and were standing in the middle of the room, preparing for Dean to go face Amara. The popping from the apparition had Dean flinching every time, while Sam mostly just seemed fascinated.

"Would you stop that?! I'm on my last nerve as it is. It'll just end up with me vaporizing all of you!" Dean barked. Luckily the popping had stopped, all of them having apparated back into the bar. The witches and wizards gathered at a nearby table, Ron and Lavender shooting glares at the rest of the room.

Gabriel rolled his eyes. "Well what do you expect? Witches and wizards – that's how it is. What do you want them to do? Just walk through the front door?"

"Nobody asked you." Dean growled back.

"So, what now? They just say 'tag – you're it'? and you go kamikaze?" That earned Gabriel an elbow to the gut from Hermione.

Dean scowled at Gabriel, and then turned to Chuck, who was still sitting in a chair, looking morose.

"So. You cool with this?"

Chuck sighed and shook his head slowly. "No. Even after all she has done, Amara – she's still my sister. I really don't want to hurt her, and I definitely don't want her dead. She's my family, you know?"

Dean nodded awkwardly and was about to speak, when Chuck cut him off "I understand though. There was a reason I locked her away in the first place, you know?"

"Yeah. Yeah, I get it."

"Dean?" Castiel came up and put a hand on Dean's shoulder.

Dean turned around at gave the angel a hug. "Okay, alright."

"I could go with you." Castiel offered. Hermione thought it was sweet. Gabriel thought it was nauseating.

"No. No, I gotta do this alone. But if – when this works, Sam is going to be a mess. So, look out for him, okay? Make sure he doesn't do anything stupid."

Castiel looked at Dean sceptically, like he was about to argue, but apparently the angel had developed enough social skills to know when to lie. Gabriel knew, that without a doubt, Sam would attempt to do something stupid – like trying to revive his disintegrated brother, and Castiel would be right next to him.

"Of course," Castiel nodded, ever loyal.

Dean nodded and squeezed the angel's shoulder "Thank you, for everything." He then turned to the rest of the room.

"Okay, I want a big funeral. All right? I'm talking epic, okay? Open bar, choir, Sabbath cover band and Gary Busey reading the eulogy."

Sam nodded, trying to keep it together "Done"

"And for my ashes – I like it here. You know, as far as eternal resting places go."

Gabriel barely resisted telling Dean, that odds were, that there would be no ashes. That if he followed through with the plan, odds were that he would be atomized. Hermione squeezed his hand, and from the look on her face, she knew it too.

"How did it go with you guys?" He murmured to her.

"I honestly haven't the foggiest. I have hopes, of course, but my faith is running a bit thin."

Gabriel looked at his father, who looked frailer by the minute. "Yeah, no kidding" he replied, absently.

"Okay, let's do this" Dean interrupted his thought process. The guy was obviously, a mess, his hands shaking, but trying and failing to put up a front of brass and confidence. Sam was standing in the corner, red eyed and sniffling.

Chuck sighed and gave him a last look before snapping his fingers, leaving an empty spot, where Dean had stood milliseconds ago.

"That's just not natural. Where's the sound?" Ron asked incredulously.

Chuck huffed and leaned back in his chair.

Gabriel blew a raspberry "There. Sound enough?" He snarked at the redhead.

Lavender huffed "No need to get snippy."

"I have every need to be snippy right now." Gabriel murmured lowly, seriously contemplating to turn all the make-up on the bimbo blue. He decided against it though – he might as well just turn her into a smurf.

"No, she's much too tall for that" Luna interrupted his thought process, having snuck up behind him.

"Yeah I know." He replied after recovering from the shock. It wasn't until after responding that he realized that neither of them had been speaking aloud.

Ginny had been sitting, looking at her hands, but looked up, shaking. "Do you need us for anything else? It's just, that if this really is the end – I would like to spend the time with the rest of the family."

Ron and George nodded in unison, and Harry squeezed Ginny's hand.

"Daddy would probably appreciate my help with the dinkyflumps as well." Luna stated, as if she was telling them that she should remember to do the laundry.

Lavender looked at Luna confusedly. "I should go home to my mum as well. She doesn't know that I left." She realized, her voice shaking.

One by one, the wizards came to hug Hermione close, each trying and failing to pretend that nothing was wrong, and they would see each other next Tuesday for lunch.

Harry went over to Gabriel, punching him in the shoulder. "You take care of her. You hear?" He sniffed

Gabriel smiled wryly. "Loud and clear."

When everyone had gone, Hermione was an exhausted mess of tears and snot and she went to sit down next to Chuck, only to realize he was gone. She looked around at the shocked faces, but most of all at Gabriel, who looked devastated.

His father was gone, and he didn't get the chance to say goodbye.

Hermione covered her mouth with her hands, trying not to cry even more, and flinched, when Gabriel slammed a fist into a nearby table, turning the furniture to dust. The archangel kicked the door open and went outside.

Castiel stood up to go after his brother, but Sam grabbed his shoulder, when he saw Hermione stand to follow.

When she got outside, Gabriel was standing ramrod straight, staring into nothingness.

"I want to go home." He dully intoned.

"Me too" Hermione whispered. She took his hand, and in less than the blink of an eye, they were home in their own little universe, in the abandoned warehouse, where they had built a life. Everything looked deceptively normal, except for the dried-up boot prints in the hallway and the potions textbook that lay discarded on the couch, its pages all crinkled.

Gabriel held her so tight, she was afraid he was going to break her ribs. She put her arms around him, to complete the embrace, and they stood like that for what felt like years or days or maybe a simple second, when all the sudden the sun outside started to brighten.

They looked at each other and stormed outside to look at the blue sky and the blinding sun.

…

Dean was surprised to find himself in a garden of all places. He didn't know what he had expected. A desert? Or a forest like last time?

Nevertheless, he found himself next to a bed of dead flowers and a small fountain.

"Dean. How did you find me?"

He turned around to come face to face with Amara.

"Does it matter? I'm here to give you what you want. Me."

Amara snorted "That's a change."

"Well, I can't just stand by and watch the world, my friends and my family die, so if becoming a part of you takes me away from that, then I'm in."

Amara smiled amusedly. "You and that bomb in your chest? Do you think I can't taste the power coming off of you? Please. The problem is you've never been able to hurt me. So, what makes this time any different?" She looked at him sadly.

Dean met her gaze. "I don't have a choice. What you're doing to the sun – "

"That's not me." She pointed out. "With my brother getting weaker, the scales are tipping away from light."

"And into darkness."

"Into nothing. When God's gone, the universe – everything will cease to exist. Including me." She pointed out. "My brother betrayed me. He locked me away for billions of years. He sent you to execute me." Her breath hitched as she sat down.

"No. No, he zapped me here, yes, but he didn't want this. This wasn't his idea. You're family. He doesn't want you dead. He doesn't want any of this. Is this what _you_ wanted?" Dean asked, walking closer.

"No." She said, frowning. "I just wanted to hurt him. I wanted to make him pay." She looked down, rubbing her chest.

"Yeah, that's revenge. It'll get you out of bed in the morning, and when you get it, it feels great. For about five minutes. I've been there. Me and Sam – we've had our fair share of fights – more than our share – but no matter how bad it got, we always made it right, because we're family. I need him, he needs me. And when everything goes to crap, that's all you've got – family.

Now, you might be an all-powerful being, but I think you're human where it counts. You simply need your brother."

Amara winced "Just stop" She rubbed her chest harder, breathing continuing to hitch.

"You don't want to be alone. Not really." Dean continued. "I mean, hell. Maybe that's why you wanted me. But deep down, you didn't really want me, because I'm not him."

Amara was breathing even harder and furiously rubbing her chest. "Stop it! What are you doing to me?!"

Dean blinked "Wha – I haven't done anything" He looked at her confusedly.

"Ye – Yes you are!" She stammered, her breath coming out in uneven huffs.

Dean looked around, searching for the cause of Amara's fit.

"It hurts! Why does it hurt so much? My chest feels so constricted and my eyes are leaking."

Dean frowned. "Leaking?" He went to take a closer look at her and realized that she wasn't actually wounded.

"You're crying." He stated, sitting down next to her, feeling awkward.

"But that's a _human_ thing to do, isn't it?" She half-sneered, more confused than angry.

"Tell me, what do you feel?" He asked her curiously.

"I told you. Chest – constricted." She growled.

"Then let's try something else – what do you want?"

"I want – I want my brother." She realized, now openly sobbing.

Dean nodded "Then you know what to do more than I do."

She leaned her head on Dean's shoulder and Dean looked up at Chuck, who had suddenly appeared, staggering in front of them. Dean hurried to stand up to support Chuck, leading him to sit next to his sister, who was looking at them wide-eyed.

"Why did you bring me here?" Chuck asked her, suppressing a groan.

Amara looked at him, struggling to find words. "Brother, I just – In the beginning, it was just you and me, and we were family. I loved you, and I thought – No, I knew that you – that you loved me."

"I did" Chuck nodded weakly. "I do." He sighed.

Amara sniffled "But then you went, and you made all these other things. I hated them. I hated you, for needing something else, something that wasn't me. And then you locked me away" Her breathing hitched and Chuck took her hand.

"All I could think about was making you suffer" She confessed.

Chuck shrugged lightly "You had your reasons."

"I did." Amara nodded fervently "And I thought revenge would make me happy. But I was wrong. What you've made, it's – it's beautiful. It took me a long time, and some help to see that. I know that we can't go back to the way things were. I don't want to go back, but I wish – I wish we could just be family again." She stammered through tears.

Chuck smiled at her "I do too."

Amara squeezed his hand and raised the other to heal him.

Revitalized, Chuck stood up and rolled his shoulders and smiled at Dean "I think we're just gonna go away for a while and…"

"Yeah. Family meeting. I get it." Dean shrugged awkwardly.

"But first, we should probably -" Chuck walked over to dean and placed a hand on his chest, drawing out the bomb. Dean winced and groaned in pain.

"Better?" Chuck asked when he was done.

"Yeah" Dean breathed. "But what about us? What about Earth?"

Chuck smiled "Earth will be fine. It's got you… and Sam." He reassured him.

"Dean. You gave me what I needed most. I want to do the same for you." Amara smiled at him.

Dean frowned at her, but before he could ask her, the two entities had disappeared.

…

"Hi guys!" It suddenly sounded from behind them in the parking lot. Hermione almost peed herself, and Gabriel emitted a very manly squeak. He turned around and stared in wonder.

"Dad? Aunt Amara?" He asked incredulously.

"So! This is the place, huh?" Chuck beamed proudly at his son.

"Um, well. Yeah." Gabriel stammered.

"Gabriel. Hermione." Amara smiled. "Along with your friends, you two have helped me greatly. Gabriel, you held Lucifer back, when he wanted to kill me. Hermione – you showed me, what human emotions are. How, when some might seem burdensome and painful, they are a gift and something to be treasured. I wanted to give you a gift as well. I'm sure it will come to you in time, what it is."

Amara hugged Hermione and Gabriel awkwardly and turned back to her brother.

"We'll be seeing you kids soon again!" Chuck waved, and the two disappeared, leaving a flabbergasted couple in their wake.


	16. Why must all good things come to an end?

“I'm still not ready.”

Billie snorted “No one is ever ready.”

“Nicholas Flamel was ready.” Harry pointed out. Billie laughed out loud. “Nicholas Flamel was probably the least ready there is. There's always someone you didn't talk to, something you didn’t do or something you didn’t achieve. Hell, Nicholas once told me that he wasn’t ready because he had never eaten snails.” Billie rolled her eyes and Harry made a face.

She had unsurprisingly come to him as he sat by the fire at Grimmauld Place that evening, having a glass of firewhiskey, pretending to be an adult. “My point it that living longer doesn’t make you more ready to move on – it just makes it harder to imagine doing anything else.” She continued, leaning back in the wing backed chair next to his own.

Harry frowned “How about we make a deal? I finish living my human life. I get married, maybe have a kid or three and then, when I die _of natural causes_ \- I'll take over.”

Billie huffed “And in the meantime?”

“You're second in command. So, you lead.” Harry shrugged. “besides, a human lifetime is like the blink of an eye compared to the rest of eternity, right?” he reasoned.

“Fine" the reaper grumbled reluctantly crossing her arms.

Harry smiled. He would live his life. Hopefully it would help him relate to other people’s lives, when he became Death.

“How are things, other than that?” He asked Billie cheerfully.

She gave him a deadpan look “You really wanna know?” She asked rhetorically.

Harry cringed and Billie smirked “Thought so. See you later, kiddo.” She winked at him and was gone in an instant, which was all the same as the fire in the fireplace roared with green flames and his girlfriend stepped out. He didn’t feel like explaining why he had a reaper visiting in his living room. He would tell her about his role as master of death, but not now. Not yet. They had time, he told himself.

Ginny smirked as she threw herself heavily on top of him, drawing an “Oomph”- sound as the air was knocked out of his lungs.

“Do you ever wonder if some day, we might live a normal quiet life?” She sighed.

Harry snorted “If you’re looking for nice and normal, you should have stayed with Dean.”

Ginny rolled her eyes and grabbed the small hair on the back of his neck, making him wince slightly. “That’s what you get for being an idiot.” She chuckled.

Harry grabbed her by the waist and flipped them over, so he was pressing her into the chair. “An idiot, you say?” He grinned slightly maniacally at her and started tickling her mercilessly, making her squeal like a guinea pig.

…

They both collapsed on the sofa. They were finally alone. Gabriel knew they would have to have _the talk_ – the one he had been both hating, dreading and looking forward to having since he kidnapped her for the second time.

“You know, Hermione. I'm bad at taking things seriously" she snorted. “No, I mean it. I absolutely suck at it.”

“I'm aware.” Hermione sighed. The last days had been full of adrenaline. So much had happened in such a short amount of time and she knew that while they had won, it wouldn’t be long until this would happen – the talk about her mortality and him cutting his losses before they both got in too deep, that she shouldn’t get her hopes up or expect anything. A short look at his wings confirmed that the conversation they were about to have would indeed be serious. They were laying unmoving, touching the floor as they were going through the sofa. She often wondered how they could do that, while they felt so corporeal when she touched them.

“You should know though that I have never been more serious about anything more than what is between us for my entire life.” He told her with a slight shake in his voice.

Her eyes snapped up to meet his.

“I can’t give up immortality, but I would if I could. I want to be with you, get married, have a baby or two and grow old with you and eventually die together at the same time in each other’s arms.” He continued, indeed looking more serious than she had ever seen him before.

“But I can’t.” He frowned; his lips pressed into a thin line.

And there it was. She nodded, and felt her eyes starting to water. She looked away from him in order to hide her unshed tears.

“What I _can_ do, is create an illusion that I’m aging with you. I don’t know about the kids, since nephilims are generally considered abominations” he sighed. “but I what I want the most, is you. I can’t die, even if I want to. There’s simply no one around to kill me.” he huffed, and her eyes widened.

“I don’t want you to die" she whispered.

He smiled “And I don’t want _you_ to die, but we have to face it – me probably more than you, that eventually you will. And when that happens, several decades from now, I want you in my arms and I want to be there for you. You dying, is going to absolutely break me.” His voice broke and she turned her head to see him with his head down, tears streaming down his face.

“It’s going to break me,” he repeated with a sigh “but there’s nothing to be done about that. Me breaking is going to happen when you die, no matter if you’re in my arms or if I’m on the other side of the planet, killing some dude in some weird and stupid way. I could visit you in heaven, but we both know it wouldn’t be the same.” He bit his lip, and turned his head towards her, meeting her eyes.

“What I'm trying to say is that I want to be with you. If you'll have me, I guess. This isn’t a proposal by the way. That would be for some other time.”

Hermione snorted. “You stupid bird. Of course, I want to be with you. I'm just worried that you will lose interest when I'm old and gross.” She joked, but looked away again, feeling insecure.

“I would be old and gross right along with you.” He caressed her chin with a finger and turned her head back to face him. “Of course, I'm interested in your body – I don’t know of any being that wouldn’t. But more than that, I want your soul.” He frowned. “Wait, that sounds kind of creepy.”

She giggled wetly and he smiled a little at the sound.

“My point is that primarily, while I _do_ see your body and very much appreciate it, it’s your soul that I see the clearest, and I have to admit that it’s the most beautiful thing I have ever seen.” He huffed in disbelief. “I have watched the creation of the universe, I have seen a supernova up close, I have seen the very first sunrise, but nothing compares to what I see when I look at your soul. And that part of you will never age.” He smiled softly at her.

She took a shaky breath, her own tears now flowing freely down her cheeks.

“How could I possibly say no to you, when you say things like that?” She whispered.

He smirked, but not in the arrogant and cheeky way that she had become used to. All the overconfidence and bravado were gone, leaving behind a vulnerable soul. He had bared himself to her. She leaned forward and kissed him softly, trying to fill the kiss with all the feelings she had inside, that she couldn’t express, simply because words didn’t exist to describe them. She felt his arms enveloping her and she sighed happily as he deepened the kiss.

Suddenly she found herself in the bedroom lying down on the bed, completely surrounded by Gabriel and his wings, which had moved forward, enveloping the both of them in golden feathers.

Gabriel broke the kiss and moved his head to look her in the eyes with the most honest and vulnerable expression she had ever seen.

“I love you" he whispered and looked at her face, gauging her reaction. He was filled to the brim with indescribable joy, from his head to his toes and all the way out to the furthest tips of all his feathers, when she instantly broke into a wide smile. “I love you too" she whispered back at him and his wings tightened a little more around them.

Why they whispered, he didn’t know. There was no one else in the room and it wasn’t a secret, but as they laid there, cocooned by his wings, breathing each other’s air, it just felt like the right thing to do.

He kissed her again, relishing the taste of her, the tickling sensation when their tongues touched and the heat from her body and soul so close to him. His entire being, grace and all, was trembling with joy and excitement and when she caught his tongue between her teeth, he nearly came undone. He kissed her even deeper in response and used his body to press her into the mattress. He knew exactly when she felt his excitement because she stiffened instantly, and her heartrate increased dramatically. He knew why and he pulled back a little to look at her face.

“Gabriel” she whispered, wide-eyed. “I’ve never done this before”

“I know.” He told her with a gentle smile. “If at any point, you don’t want to, just tell me. I will never be sad, angry or disappointed.”

Hermione snorted “Of course you bloody well knew” She grumbled.

Gabriel just smirked. No need to elaborate that that was one of the first things he had noticed that day he met her for the first time at Hogwarts.

“But do you want this?” He asked her, just to be sure.

Hermione’s breathing hitched. “Yes” She whispered.

…

That night, they made love for the first time. While Gabriel had had a lot (A LOT) of sex, he counted this as a first for him too. He had never made love to someone before.

All his previous encounters had been part of his big hedonistic “fuck you" to his father. It always felt good for the time that it lasted, but this was an experience in a category of its own.

Hermione had never tried it before, but he found that in the end, it didn’t matter if she was a virgin or not. What made the entire difference was that she _knew_ him. She knew exactly who he was. She knew him as Loki, the Norse god of tricks and lies, she knew him as the trickster, who would murder people in cold blood. But most importantly, she knew him as Gabriel - the runaway angel with daddy issues and she still loved him. He cringed internally at those thoughts. Man, he was getting corny and soft and all the things that angels weren’t supposed to be. But he found that deep down, he didn’t care. Besides, dad had given his stamp of approval (something he still didn’t know what he thought of.) He decided that in the end, it didn’t matter. Nothing mattered besides the witch in his arms.

Life was good for once

But as it is with good things – most of them eventually come to an end.


	17. Fishy, fishy, fishy fish! - Where did it go?

Hermione and Gabriel didn’t settle into any different kind of routine after their night of confessions. Hermione still went to work, they still pranked the douchebags of the world. The biggest change were the little touches that had already been there, were now prolonged and made more intimate. The nights they spent in bed were now primarily naked. They still lived in absolute chaos.

All in all, they were happy.

The day everything started spiralling out of control, was a deceptively normal Tuesday. Hermione had been in the library working on her latest project; a book about runes from the Elder Futhark and their appliance in protective wards, when she heard Gabriel scream in pain. She ran towards the sound as fast as she could, cursing the fact that she had set up anti-apparition wards.

She found Gabriel lying in a heap on the kitchen floor, screaming in agony and clutching his ears. She had never been so scared – what kind of pain could do _that_ to an archangel?

She threw herself into a sitting position and started casting diagnostic charms but didn’t get far before Gabriel’s screaming turned into heavy pants. He looked at her with a confused frown.

“I – I think I'm – I’m going to be an uncle" He looked at her dumbly for a few seconds before his eyebrows rose suddenly as his brain caught up with his statement and he scrambled to stand up. “Fuck!” He yelled and started pulling his hair. “FUCKING HELL, LUCIFER!” he roared and went to punch the nearest wall, making a large hole straight through it.

Hermione sat, startled by the display. Gabriel was always cool, calm and collected. She had never seen him this agitated before. His wings were flaring out behind him, glowing with rage and anxiety and the ground was trembling beneath them as he was pacing back and forth. She gave him a minute to calm down until his breath came out in small puffs and his wings twitchingly lowered themselves.

“Lucifer is having a baby? It’s going to be a Nephilim, right?” she asked carefully and Gabriel nodded slowly, with his eyes shut. “You told me they were considered abominations. But why is that exactly?”

Gabriel rubbed a hand over his face, and for once, he looked like the old and tired entity that had lived for eons. He sat down on the floor, leaning against the wall and Hermione couldn’t help the idle thought that his wings must be protruding from the wall in the bathroom. She was brought back on track, when Gabriel sighed heavily.

“There’s something you need to understand about angels. With very few exceptions, angels are made to be soldiers.” He spat. “They’re made to obey without thought and the hierarchy has always been clear and absolute and the power each angel has is a reflection of that hierachy. That’s why angels find Nephilim dangerous. They upset their natural order. A Nephilim is incredibly strong. Stronger than the angel that was their parent. The angels don’t know what to do with such a powerful being - especially because a Nephilim is half human. They can’t put it into the hierarchy and they can’t just control it because its humanity gives it free will. That makes it dangerous. My own opinion is that a Nephilim in itself isn’t necessarily something bad. But a child of Lucifer?” He huffed and met her eyes “I can’t even imagine what Lucifer could do with such a powerful being on his side.”

Hermione hummed thoughtfully “But what if the Nephilim wasn’t on Lucifers side?”

“What do you mean?” Gabriel asked, leaning his head back against the wall.

“Well, no one is born evil.” Hermione shrugged.

“Your point being?” he rolled his eyes

“My point is – what if Lucifer never saw the child? What if he was cut off from the beginning and didn’t have any influence? Who is the mother?”

“Well, the part about the mother is almost irrelevant. The birth of a Nephilim is always lethal for the mother, so she won’t be around to have any influence on the kid. I don’t know if there’s any influence to be had while it’s still – you know” Gabriel gestured at his stomach, mimicking a round bump.

“Is that why you think we shouldn’t have any children?” Hermione asked with a sad smile.

He smirked “Yeah. I think that everyone can agree that letting me raise a kid on my own would be downright irresponsible.”

“That’s surprisingly insightful of you” she sighed

“Well, that and I don’t want you to die and stuff. I'm rather… fond of you, you know" he told her teasingly. Hermione smirked at him. “Just fond, you say? Then what am I even doing here?” She stood up, pretending to be offended. “I'll just go pack my bags then" she shrugged.

Gabriel reached up and grabbed her by the hips to pull her down on his lap “You’re not going anywhere, witch" he growled. “You know very well that you’re the love of my considerably long life.”

Hermione smiled “I love you too" she kissed him and rested her forehead against his. He sighed “I'm going to see if I can find the mother. Then bring her back here and we can protect her and the stinker or whatever" he smiled ruefully.

“That’s your niece or nephew you’re talking about” She reminded him teasingly.

“That’s still so weird. Lucifer is going to be a dad.” Gabriel shuddered

“For what it’s worth, I think you would be a great father.” She smiled tenderly “With a little guidance maybe, but still great" she winked at him.

He snorted. “Not without you.” He pushed her off his lap, stood up and sighed. “I better get going if we want a head start. There are a lot of people and other things that are going to be after this kid. It might take some time, since I need to find the woman first and all that rot. And we don’t know who she is. It might take me a while. You should stay here though, you have that idiot job of yours to take care of.” he rolled his eyes. “You gonna be okay?” He asked her.

Hermione snorted. “I'm a witch. I'll manage. The only thing that’s going to be different is that I have to go to the shops more often, because I can’t just snap whatever I want into existence" she rolled her eyes.

He ran a finger through the frosting of the cake he had been conjuring when he had collapsed, and put it in his mouth. “Mmh. You're gonna miss me though. Wish me luck" he winked at her and disappeared with a whoosh, leaving Hermione with the rest of a three tiered layer cake. “Yes I will, birdbrain" she sighed. 

It would indeed be a long time before she saw him again.

…

From the moment Gabriel left, Hermione felt anxious and jittery. She kept up pretenses, she went to work and visited her friends. He checked in every once in a while, but sometimes he would go somewhere where he couldn’t be reached, like Heaven or Hell or even if he travelled in time. Sometimes his updates were far in between and those periods were always the hardest. After a few months with semi-regular check-ins, she stopped hearing from him. With every day without word, she grew more and more worried. She assumed he was in a hard to reach place and kept herself busy to keep her mind off it, which sometimes worked and sometimes a little too well. Later on she would scold herself for not seeing the signs sooner. She had her routines and there were parts of their home she rarely visited. The first room to disappear had been a broom cupboard, but Hermione had doubts if it had ever been there in the first place. After all, they never cleaned with muggle methods. The next to go was the furniture in the guest bedroom – a place she never went, unless they actually had guests, which didn’t happen often. The gym went next, though why they even had a gym in the first place, Hermione didn’t know. Neither of them had ever used it. She didn’t notice that their house was shrinking until one morning where she walked headfirst into a wall, where the door to the bathroom had been the day before.

“What the hell, Gabe!” she yelled before her sleep addled brain managed to catch up with her. He hadn’t pranked her, because he wasn’t there and hadn’t been for a while. She frowned and began to investigate the wall, trying to find out what had happened to the door. She knocked on the wall where the door used to be, but the wall was solid. Then she went around the rest of the house and became more and more disturbed. Things were disappearing rapidly, furniture faded to nothing in front of her eyes along with the appliances in the kitchen. At the rate things were going, the house could disappear around her at any time. She took a fast decision and summoned her beaded bag. With a flick of her wand, items came zooming towards her, but even as they did so, she noticed that some things were disappearing mid air. All of the disappearing things were things Gabriel had conjured for her. Upon that realization, her worry increased tenfold. When the last piece of clothing had found its way into her bag, she had to run. She didn’t know what would happen if she stayed in the house when it disappeared. She only just made it outside before the house faded away and she turned around just in time to see the last remnants of the garden fade away, leaving her standing alone in the middle of a dilapidated warehouse.

What on earth was going on? It was easy to come to the conclusion that it had something to do with Gabriel, but what was happening to him? It didn’t take her long to come to a decision. She double checked the contents of her bag and turned on her heel.

…

Kansas was dreary. Hermione quickly realised that the bunker was empty and she couldn’t help but wonder where the brothers and their angel friend had gone. Were they on a case? Did they know anything about Gabriel? Were they following the same case of the Nephilim as he had?

She would have prefered to go inside to wait for them. She remembered seeing several books in that library of theirs that she would have loved to bury herself in, to take her mind off things, but unfortunately or fortunately, depending how you look at it, the warding was too strong and she couldn’t apparate inside or use alohomora on the lock.

Instead, she decided to set up camp at the edge of the forest, drawing up her own wards and pitching her trusty tent that she was happy she hadn’t gotten rid of. There was no way of knowing when the Winchesters would be back, so she decided to set up a corner of the tent for research. She pulled several bookcases out of the bag and duplicated the kitchen table to make a desk where she set up her laptop and went to make a cup of tea before she sat down to do some research. She scoured the internet for the smallest signs of suspicious activity that could hint to where her archangel might be. She spent two days, looking through each and every small local newspaper she could find, from east to west of the entire US, but aside from half a dozen vampirekillings, a couple of ghosts and what sounded like a shapeshifter, she came up with nothing. The only thing that might have had some merit was a massive power outage the day before in Washington.

She was getting restless. She had bought food enough to last a couple of weeks, but found that she didn’t have any appetite. She wasn’t sleeping properly either – she was technically homeless, but staying in the tent brought back memories from the war and coupled with the worry she felt for Gabriel, it made for some terrible nightmares.

On the fifth day, she started wondering if maybe the Winchesters had relocated. She had just decided to break up her camp and search elsewhere, when she heard the roar of a classic car in the distance. She stood outside her tent within her wards, wanting to remain unseen while assessing the situation. She didn’t know if it was the boys and she didn’t know if they had company.

Turned out it was the Winchesters and they _did_ have company. She watched in curiosity as a teenage boy got out of the car’s back seat. He seemed to stare directly at her, which ought to be impossible. She watched as he grabbed Sam’s elbow. They were too far for her to hear what he was telling him, but whatever it was, made both Sam and Dean draw their guns.

She reflexively raised her hands and slowly stepped outside her wards. Both Winchesters took a step back in surprise.

“Hi Sam. Dean.” She smiled at them, but didn’t lower her hands, just as they didn’t lower their guns. Sam was the first to recover. “Hermione? What are you doing here?”

She sighed heavily “Long story. Can we maybe go inside? I need a cup of tea.”

Dean who was obviously on edge finally lowered his gun and shrugged “Sure, why the hell not.”

Sam and Dean turned towards the bunker and Hermione went over to the teenager and smiled gently. “I don’t believe we’ve met. I’m Hermione” She stretched her hand out towards him.

“I’m Jack” He told her a bit stiltedly and grabbed her hand.

Hermione gasped as a jolt went through her, and she stared at him with wide eyes. He felt so much like Gabriel, yet so different.

“Pleased to meet you, Jack” She smiled at him widely, getting an equally wide smile in return.


	18. Welcome to my humble abode

Hermione sat down in one of the chairs in the war room and sighed heavily.

“So, why haven’t you contacted us before now, huh? We could have used your help" Dean snapped at her.

Hermione sighed again. “Well, why haven’t you contacted us then? You know where we live - lived" she corrected herself.

Sam frowned “What do you mean, ‘lived'? Did you guys split up or something? Is that why Gabriel isn’t here?”

Dean perked up and snapped his head around to look at Hermione.

“No, nothing like that" she sighed. “Gabriel is missing. He went looking for – well, he went looking for Jack here I suppose" she gestured at Jack and gave him a small smile. “He searched for months and he would check in from time to time, but a while ago I stopped hearing from him. I assumed that he might be in heaven or some other place where he wouldn’t be able to reach me. But then our house.” Her voice broke. She took a deep breath. “Our house started to disappear and I'm worried that something horrible has happened to him"

“What do you mean ‘your house disappeared'?” Dean frowned

“Well, it’s not just the house. It’s everything Gabriel had created. The house, the garden, the food, the clothes. The only things I have left are the things I had in my go-bag from the war, and that’s only because I had forgotten about it and hadn’t tossed it. Something horrible is happening to Gabriel, that’s the only conclusion I can come to.” She leaned back and ran a hand down her face.

That’s when Sam noticed the dark circles under her eyes and her gaunt face.

“When was the last time you slept?” He asked her gently. She shrugged “I don’t know, I've been researching. Time stops making sense, sometimes. But I came here to find out if you knew anything. Or if that friend of yours, Castiel might be able to help” she looked at them pleadingly, but was met with two sets of grief-struck eyes and a frown.

“Well, Cas can't help. Even if he was here, he tried looking for Gabriel before without any luck... I need a beer.” Dean grumbled and turned to walk towards the kitchen, with a small sniffle.

Hermione sighed. “I'm sorry, I wouldn’t have brought it up if I had known"

“It’s fine. We're just all a bit raw.” Sam sighed.

“Castiel was my father.” Jack stated.

“Oh?” Hermione cocked her head in confusion “But I thought -"

“Castiel is the one I chose to be my father" he nodded to himself.

Hermione smiled softly at him “So that’s how it is. From what I’ve heard about him, you chose well" she gave his hand a squeeze and he smiled proudly at her.

“You know, how about I show you your room, Jack?” Sam clapped his hands “You gonna be okay, Hermione?”

“I'll be fine. I'm just going to have a look around your library, if that’s okay?” she asked him, hoping that she might be able to find a tracking- or a summoning spell.

“Yeah, it’s fine. I'll show you the archive later as well. Come on, Jack. It’s just down here.”

Hermione crouched down next to one of the bookcases, trying to get a look at one of the books at the bottom that she didn’t have in her own little library in her tent.

“You know that’s Lucifer's kid, right?” Dean’s gravelly voice interrupted, startling her. Hermione snorted. “Jack might be Lucifer’s offspring, but that doesn’t make him his kid.” She told him pointedly.

“Whatever. He’s a loose cannon is all I'm saying. Anyway – how have you been?” he asked her, trying to change the subject. He didn’t want to get into another argument.

“I've been good" she smiled at him, but her smile dropped quickly. “Who am I kidding? I've been miserable since Gabe left. And now I’m homeless again.” She shrugged.

Dean snorted “I thought it was just us. We didn’t find this bunker until a couple of years ago. Otherwise it’s been motels or the car.”

Hermione only nodded, but didn’t give him the pity-look he had expected. He was grateful for that.

“How _did_ you find the bunker?” she inquired, but before Dean could answer, Sam interrupted as he came back “So, Hermione – where are you staying now?”

“Oh, I'm staying in my tent, just outside" she gestured at the door.

“You’re living in a tent?” Dean asked with scepticism. Hermione rolled her eyes “Yes. You want to see?”

The boys shrugged at the same time, making Hermione chuckle a little. It wasn’t always clear that they were brothers, but then certain mannerisms shone through. “Come on then" she headed up the stairs towards the exit and the boys followed.

Once they got outside, Sam and Dean looked around “So.” Dean clapped his hands “Where is your little camp"

Hermione let her wards fall, revealing the small dilapidated tent. “Welcome to my humble abode” she shrugged.

Sam frowned. “How long have you lived like that?” he asked her with sympathy and puppy dog eyes.

“Not long. Just a week or so, but I lived in there with Harry for about a year during the war. Ron was with us for some time too.” She gave a rueful smile.

“Cozy" Dean remarked with a raised eyebrow, earning himself an eyeroll in return.

“Just come inside” she sighed.

Both brothers looked around in awe, taking in the interior, from her chaotic research station to the small kitchenette. “What – how?” Sam stammered.

“Timelord-technology" Hermione replied, not missing a beat. Sam smirked, but Dean frowned at her. “Magic, Dean. It’s magic. Or had you forgotten that I'm a witch?”

Judging by Deans scowl, he had indeed forgotten. Hermione sighed.

“Hey, do you want to move into the bunker with us?” Sam asked, pointing his thumb over his shoulder. He was so tall that his head almost touched the ceiling of the tent.

“Sure. Your kitchen is better anyway" Hermione winked.

“Hey, Sammy, can I talk with you for a minute? Outside?” Dean jerked his head towards the exit.

Hermione sighed heavily and started summoning things from around the tent, sending it down into her beaded bag. She could clearly hear the two men arguing. They had apparently forgotten that the tent, despite the magic still was a tent and sound travelled easily through canvas.

“What the hell, Sammy? What’s the bunker now? A home for strays or something?”

Sam scoffed “I'd hardly call her a stray, Dean. Sure, she doesn’t have anywhere to live right now –“

“That tent looks fine to me" Dean argued.

Hermione could picture Sam's exasperated expression as he huffed “Have you considered that she might be able to help us? Or that Gabriel might be able to help us when we find him? If anyone knows about harnessing the kind of power Jack has, it would probably be them.”

“She’s a witch, Sammy. I don’t trust witches"

“You might not trust her, but you still want to get in her pants, except she’s seeing a friggin' archangel” Sam casually pointed out.

Hermione almost choked.

“That’s not – that is NOT the point" Dean floundered.

“Riiight.” Sam chuckled, obviously not believing him.

“Fine. She’ll stay. But it’s only temporary.”

Hermione nodded to herself. She wasn’t planning on staying either, but she knew that if there was any academic way to find Gabriel, This Men of Letters bunker would be her best chance of finding it.

“So! You need hel-“ Sam who stuck his head through the tent flap was cut short by his own amazement when he saw the now empty tent.

“I just need to pack the tent itself and I'm good to go inside" Hermione grinned widely at him and headed outside. “Stand back gentlemen” she requested and with a small wave of her hand, the tent folded itself until it was the size of a deck of cards.

Dean huffed “That’s just not… natural.” He turned around and stomped towards the bunker.

“What Dean means is that is so cool and he is envious” Sam gave her a crooked smile.

Hermione snorted.

…

Later in the evening, Hermione was rummaging through the kitchen trying to find something to turn into a meal tomorrow, when Jack came up behind her.

“You said before you had heard about my father. Did you hear from Sam and Dean? Did you meet him?” He asked.

Hermione hummed. “I met him once, and no, I haven’t heard about him from Sam and Dean. I’ve only met them once as well. Why do you ask?” She asked him softly as she started making tea.

“Can you tell me about him?” He looked at her with puppy dog-eyes, that belonged on a baby, rather than a teenager. It was easy to forget that he was really only a handful of days old, when he looked like he was in his late teens, but the way he talked and many of his expressions revealed his innocence.

“Dean and Sam are probably better at it. They knew him very well. They were family for years.”

“They don’t like talking about him.” Jack responded with a confused frown. “If they liked him, wouldn’t they like to talk about him?”

Hermione smiled softly, reminded of the rawness just after the war, when they had lost so many people they loved. She went to sit at the table and gestured for Jack to join her. “The thing about losing people we love, is that it hurts so very much. People have different ways of helping themselves heal, but in the beginning it’s especially hard. It feels as if your heart has been ripped open – not literally of course” She had to add when she saw Jack’s semi-disgusted face. “But it feels like a part of you are missing and every time you’re reminded of that person, it feels as if you’re losing them all over again. As if you’ve been stabbed and someone is twisting the knife.” She sighed. “That might be why they don’t like talking about him. At least not yet. Someday they will though. Some day, I’m sure they’ll tell you everything about him.”

“But if you don’t know him yourself and you didn’t hear about him from Sam and Dean, how do you know about him?”

Hermione gave him a crooked smile “From your uncle. Gabriel.”

“I have an uncle?” Jack asked her excitedly.

Hermione chuckled “Technically, I think you probably have many aunts and uncles, but in the end you decide which ones matter and which don’t.” She wandlessly summoned the two cups of tea that had finished steeping on the counter and gave him one of them.

“How did you do that?” Jack asked with a large smile on his face. Hermione smirked “With magic”

“Can you teach me? I need to learn to control my powers. So I don’t hurt people.” He frowned worriedly.

Hermione sighed “Your powers are very different from mine. Yours are more like Gabriels, but I’ll try my best to teach you everything I can, okay?” She squeezed his hand gently.

Jack nodded, slightly disappointed. “But will you tell me about Castiel?”

“Sure.” She smiled and proceeded to tell Jack the stories she had heard about a young angel who was always a little different from the other soldiers, who was always more considerate and more gentle, but a fierce warrior when he needed to be. She told him of the angel who had been in love with nature and humanity from the very beginning of the world and how he cared for all other beings. The angel who had been rebellious and stood firm for what he believed in, and how Gabriel had secretly admired him for that.

They didn’t know that out in the hallway on the floor, leaning against the wall with tears flowing down his face, Dean sat and listened.

“But where is Gabriel now?” Jack asked and Hermione sighed heavily. “I don’t know. I’m trying to find him. I need to do some more research, but I’m guessing that I’ll head out tomorrow to look for him.”

Jack nodded in understanding “I hope you find him. I would like to meet him.”

“You will, button. You will.” She gave his hand a final squeeze, drained her cup and went to put it in the sink.

She left him in the kitchen and went into the hallway, where she stopped in front of Dean. She ran a hand through his hair, making him look up at her with his bloodshot eyes. “It’ll get better, Dean.” She whispered and gave his shoulder a squeeze. He grabbed her hand when she pulled back “Promise?” He asked hoarsely “Promise.” She smiled at him. He released her hand and let her walk down to her room.


	19. Dodge

Hermione was torn. On one hand she wanted to go out to search for Gabriel, but on the other hand, it had quickly become clear that Jack was very lost. She would try to train him, but he was impatient and lost focus easily. She couldn’t train him with spells, because his grace was so different from her magic. Dean especially made things more difficult. Every time Jack would enter a room, Dean would leave. If he had to be in the same room as Jack, he would be scowling the entire time, making him nervous. The proverbial straw that broke the camel’s back came one evening, when she walked into Jack’s room, catching him trying to stab himself and judging by the holes in his shirt, he had been at it for a while.

“What the hell are you doing, Jack?” She shouted, startling the boy. He stared at her wide eyed, with the knife still in his chest. Hermione winced and pulled it out.

“What are you doing, button?” She asked him sadly. Jack frowned and looked away from her.

“Why isn’t it working?” He countered.

“No, the question is, why the hell you _want_ it to work. What’s going on with you?” She tried catching his eyes, without luck.

“All I do is hurt people.” He huffed “I can’t control my powers. I’m dangerous.”

“But we already talked about that. You’ll learn. You can’t expect it to happen in a day. I understand why you’re frustrated, but that’s not enough to take a knife to your own chest.”

He was silent for a long time and Hermione was just about to speak when he asked; “Do you think I’m evil?”

That caught her off guard. “Why on earth would I think you were evil?” she asked him in bewilderment.

“I’m Lucifer’s son.” He mumbled.

“What does that have to do with anything?”

He shrugged. “Lucifer is evil. So, I must be evil.”

“Oh, button. That’s not how evil works.” She felt her heart clench.

“But what if it is? What if Dean is right and it’s just a matter of time before I turn bad?” He whispered tearfully.

Hermione tried to cool her temper, without much success. “What did Dean say, exactly?”

Jack sighed. “He said that I can’t be saved. And that he will be the one to kill me when I go bad.”

Hermione took several calming breaths. And embraced the little boy in the body of a teenager “You listen to me, Jack. You will not go bad, because I won’t let you go bad. Sam won’t let you go bad, and even Dean, if I let him live. You are a good kid and where you come from doesn’t matter. The only thing that matters is what you do, not what you are.” She released him and looked deep into his eyes. “Do I make myself clear?”

His mouth curled ever so slightly upwards “Yes, Hermione.”

“Good. Now, get yourself a good night’s rest”

She closed the door as she went into the hallway which she marched down purposefully, intent on finding and skinning Dean Winchester alive. She found him in the kitchen, standing at the counter with a beer in one hand.

“Hey, Wanda, would you like to- “ He was cut off, when she grabbed the front of his shirt and slammed him hard into the fridge.

“What the hell is wrong with you, Dean?” She hissed.

“Hey, hey, sister. I don’t know what happened to your broomstick or whatever.” He raised his hands placatingly.

“You told Jack that he was evil? And that you would _kill_ him?” She asked him, still gripping his shirt and pressing him into the appliance with much more force than a girl her size ought to be capable of.

He scowled down at her “Well, he is, and I will”

She slapped his face. Hard. “he is a _child_ Dean! He is _innocent_! He hasn’t hurt _anybody!”_

“And when he does? He’ll hurt innocent people” he thundered.

Hermione released him and chuckled, but it wasn’t a joyful sound. It was something dark and mocking “And what do you propose we do with us then? Because unlike him, we _have_ hurt innocent people and you still do so without much remorse.”

“Look, lady, I save people”

“How many people do you think you save these days, compared to the number of people you kill?” She inquired. “How many exorcisms have you done in the last month, rather than go directly for the demon knife or an angel blade?”

Deans face soured “You know, how we do our jobs is none of your damn business. We let you stay here and let you use our library and stuff, but if you don’t like the way things are here, then there’s the door!” He seethed.

“Fine. I have the things I need to search for Gabe, so I’ll go. But if I find out that that boy has been hurt in any way shape or form, physically or emotionally, I will come for you, Dean Winchester.” She ground out and with a last scowl in his direction, she turned and left.

…

_“Hey, Hermione. It's Sam. Look, don't know what happened between you and Dean, but he’s going around looking like someone kicked his puppy. Jack is kinda confused about the whole thing and honestly, so am I. Are you coming back any time soon?”_

Hermione listened to the voicemail twice before calling back.

“Hello?”

“Hi Sam. With the risk of sounding completely childish, I think you should ask your brother what happened exactly. Particularly concerning Jack.”

Sam sighed on the phone _“I can imagine. But uh, things are a bit better now. And Cas is back, if you wanted to talk to him._ ”

“What do you mean ‘Cas is back’?” she inquired “Castiel is dead”

 _“He’s been dead before. It happens in this line of work, apparently.”_ Sam chuckled

Hermione hesitated. She didn’t want to deal with Dean, but she missed Jack and she needed to talk to Castiel. She sighed “Give me a minute and I'll be there" she grumbled.

_“Wait, where are you?”_

“I'm in Portland. Why?” she shrugged, even though he wouldn’t be able to see. She summoned her things from the hotel room she was staying in.

“ _Uh, won’t it take you a little longer to reach Kansas? Anyway, we're not at the bunker at the moment"_

Hermione chuckled “Just tell me where you’re staying, Sam.”

_“Uh, we're at the Stampede Motel, in Dodge, Kansas"_

She looked up the motel, saw the pictures and cringed. “Oh, dear. Please tell me I won’t be required to dress like a saloon girl”

Sam laughed out loud _“Oh, God, please don’t. Dean is excited enough as it is. There’s really no need to add to that.” “Add to what?”_ She heard Deans voice and a door closing “ _Never mind Dean. Anyway, are you coming?”_

“Yes. I'll be there in a minute”

She hung up and doubled checked that she had everything before leaving her room. On the way down in the elevator, she studied Google maps, trying to find a good place near the motel to apparate to.

After checking out, she went to a dark alley, and thought, Destination, Determination, Deliberation and spun on her heel, arriving in a small closed off area behind the motel. After a short moment’s consideration, she transfigured her clothes into a dark green dress, complete with ruffles and lace and put her curly hair into an elaborate up do, adding a large green feather as a cherry on top. She transfigured her shoes into lace up leather boots and set out to find the guys.

Finding them was easy enough, she just had to follow the power Jack was emanating. She knocked on the door and waited, leaning against the door frame.

“Howdy partners" she greeted cheerfully at the guys, when Dean opened the door. For a long time he stood, wide-eyed in his own ridiculous hat.

“Can I come in, Dean?” She had to ask in the end, starting to regret her wardrobe choice. Gabriel was rubbing off on her. If he had been there, _he_ would have been the one to snap his fingers and she would have been wearing the same. Except with a shorter skirt and more cleavage.

Dean nodded, apparently lost for words. When she entered the motel room, Sam laughed aloud when he saw her. “How the hell?” he just asked.

She smirked “magic" and winked at him. She transfigured the dress into something more normal looking with a wave of her hand and took in the reactions to the blatant use of magic. Castiel looked bored, but she supposed he had probably seen more impressive things. Jack looked mesmerized, Sam looked fascinated and Dean looked… scared. So much for progress.

Jack was the first to react. He stood and strode over to her, giving her a crushing hug. “I missed you, aunt Hermione.” That earned an eyebrow raise from Castiel.

“I missed you too, button.” She whispered as she hugged him back.

He released her and went around the room, searching for something. “Look! I finally learned how to levitate something!” he told her excitedly, when he found a pen. He laid it on the table, stared at it in concentration until it slowly lifted itself off the surface.

Hermione smiled widely “That’s amazing! I'm so happy for you!” she exclaimed, sharing the excitement. “Now it will be much easier for you to learn how to do other things, because now you know the feeling of your power.” She hugged him again. “You should still take it easy though. It won’t all come in a day, okay?” she caught Castiel looking at her curiously with a small approving smile.

She let go of Jack and went to him. “Hello Castiel" she gave him a small smile. She didn’t quite know how to act around him. The last time she had seen him, it had been Lucifer in his vessel most of the time.

“Hermione… you look… well” he greeted her in that gravelly voice of his. Maybe she wasn’t the only one feeling a little awkward or maybe that was just his normal behaviour. It was hard to tell.

“I need your help, Castiel” she pleaded. The angel’s eyebrows furrowed. “Yes. Sam has uh filled me in on the situation. I've tried, but I can’t find him at the moment. I'm sorry.”

And he did sound genuinely sorry. “That’s alright. But I had an idea. I know that Gabriel has written something in enochian to shield me from “angel radar", but I also know that he included a sigil that makes him able to find me at any time. I was wondering if we might be able to reverse engineer it so that we could use it to find him, rather than him finding me.”

He seemed to consider the idea. “I-I don’t know. It might be possible, but I've never tried anything like that before. What does it look like?”

“I have no idea. It’s somewhere on my ribcage. Can you take a look?”

“Sure.” Castiel stared intently at her chest for a long time and suddenly, he coughed and blushed. He looked at Hermione with equal amounts of awe and mortification.

Hermione gave a long-suffering sigh and rolled her eyes.

“I don’t need to know what it says, only if it can be done" she frowned and crossed her arms defensively.

“Uh, I’m not sure. Maybe. I can try" he floundered.

“That’s all I ask" she smiled at him “Now, do you need any help on your case?”

“No, that won’t be necessary. We're going to be just fine. You can get back to whatever you were doing" Dean told her immediately.

She sighed but didn’t argue. “Fine. But don’t hesitate to call if you need anything, okay? I can be here in seconds.” She looked at each of them in turn. “Even for you, grumpy.” She told Dean with a scowl as she passed him.

…

“Hermione?” it was Dean calling, so something had to be very wrong.

“Yes?” she asked, dreading the answer.

“It’s Jack. He left.” She could hear the tiredness and guilt in his voice.

“Where are you?” she growled but didn’t get a response.

“Where are you, Dean?” she yelled, not caring that people were looking at her in the bar she was sitting in.

Dean sighed “We're at the bunker"

She hung up on him and practically ran out of the bar and into the nearest alley, where she apparated mid-step.

She appeared exactly in front of the door to the bunker, which she slammed open. She thundered down the steps into the war-room.

“What, exactly do you mean ‘he left'?” she demanded to know from the three men sitting around the table.

“He killed someone” Sam said quietly.

Hermione stopped short. “No. He wouldn’t do that.” She defended, absolutely certain.

“There was an accident" Castiel explained “He only wanted to help. A security guard got in the way and his head hit a pillar, killing him instantly.”

“That poor boy.” Hermione sighed

Sam sat, scratching at the label of his beer bottle and Dean sat as still as a statue until he suddenly stood and threw his chair.

“Dammit!” He exploded.

Hermione lifted an eyebrow at him but wasn’t otherwise affected.

“You were right, alright?” He told her. “I’m sorry.”

She gave him a wan smile. “It doesn’t matter now, who was right or wrong. We need to find Jack, and we need to find Gabriel and we need to find your mum.”

“I’ll look for Jack. You continue to look for Gabriel. Technically we know where Mary is, we just don’t know how to get there.” Castiel offered.

Hermione sighed “I hope we’ll find them sooner rather than later. Jack really shouldn’t be alone with this. Call me if there’s even the slightest news.” She asked of them and exited the bunker again. She had to stop for a minute to take some deep breaths before apparating.

She was slowly but surely falling into despair. It was months since she last heard from Gabriel and now Jack was missing too. Losing them entirely wasn’t an option, so she would keep on searching.


	20. Guilty until proven innocent

Hermione had scoured the country trying to find the smallest sign of Gabriel, but she came up with nothing. She was beginning to wonder if maybe he had become trapped in another world like Mary Winchester. She was also deeply disturbed by some of the rumours she had heard. Lucifer was roaming free which begged the question – where _was_ Mary? She also couldn’t get a hold of the Winchesters to check up on them.

It also messed with her plans to ask the angels for help. She couldn’t risk information getting back to Lucifer that she was looking for Gabriel. She didn’t know how he stood with the angels and he wasn’t exactly her greatest fan. There was also a large risk that _he_ was the one keeping Gabriel locked up. Or worse.

Instead she decided to go back to England to see if she could learn something from some of her contacts in the Department of Mysteries or at Hogwarts, but travelling for her, was no easy feat. At home, Gabriel had installed a fireplace, which with a little help from Percy, who had worked his way up at the department of international Magical Cooperation, had been hooked up to the Floo Network.

Now it proved more challenging though because she had to go through MACUSA. The Woolworth building stood imperiously, towering over her. It reminded her mostly of a cathedral that had been stretched upwards. She hadn’t ever been there, but she caught sight of two wizards who were trying hard to be inconspicuous and followed them.

MACUSA was for a lack of better word, stunning. The grand lobby she had entered was golden and the way the sun shone through the windows, made everything glow as if it was on fire. She went to get her wand registered and managed exactly twelve steps before her right arm was grabbed and twisted upwards behind her back.

”Hermione Granger, you are hereby under arrest. Anything can and will be held against you in a court of law.” A deep male voice said lowly behind her. ”Please do not resist, this is a delicate situation enough as it is. Give me your wand”

Hermione nodded and pulled her wand out from her sleeve, putting it in his hand. ”Where to then, good sir?” she snarked.

The man let her arm fall but kept a hand on her elbow as he stepped into her field of vision. He was on the short side, with golden blond hair which stood in contrast to his light brown skin that made her think of milk chocolate. He frowned slightly. ”You should know that I'm acting under orders and I'll try to make this as painless as possible.”

Hermione only nodded. Interesting.

She was led through a small door off to the left of the wand registration office into a large hallway illuminated by the sun shining through large windows lining one wall. The other side was lined with doors. Each door had a brass plaque and unsurprisingly she was led to one that said _’Interrogation’_.

Everything in the room was steel, from the furniture to the walls.

”Sorry about this" the man mumbled when he gave her a quick search and sat her down in the chair and ropes shot out and wound themselves around her wrists. He then left her.

She assumed a relaxed position, careful to show them that they didn’t intimidate her. Whatever they could do to her legally, she had tried much much worse. The only thing that annoyed her was the time she lost that she could have spent looking for Gabriel.

She sat completely still while she mentally went through all the fairy tales of Beedle the Bard.

A couple of hours later, she was joined by the man from before and who she assumed was his superior, judging by the way he held himself and the way the first man held the door open for him. He was a heavy-set man with greying hair and light grey eyes that she doubted had ever looked at anything with kindness.

”Miss Granger -" He started.

”May I ask what this is about?” she inquired, interrupting him.

His jaw tightened. ”I am Chief Auror Ironwood, and this is Auror Everglade. You've caused quite a stir, miss Granger.”

Hermione quirked an eyebrow in question, but when the Chief Auror didn’t offer anything more, she rolled her eyes and asked ”How so, Auror… Ironwood, was it? I've caused a stir quite a number of times, so you'll have to be more specific.”

The older Auror ground his teeth. ”Miss Granger, I know that you Brits like to _flaunt_ the rules, but here in America we expect _everyone_ to follow them. _Especially_ the International Statute of Secrecy, which you have _blatantly_ violated.

Hermione leaned back in chair and pursed her lips. ”And to whom do you believe I have revealed the existence of our society?”

”Sam and Dean Winchester" Chief Auror Ironwood growled.

Hermione blinked. One time. Two times. Three times before she realised that the old fart was completely serious. Then she burst out laughing. ”Let me get this straight – Sam and Dean Winchester, who have known about- and hunted supernatural things since they could walk, Sam and Dean?”

Auror Everglade pursed his lips behind Ironwood’s back.

”You’ve revealed that _you_ are a witch to them” Ironwood hissed.

”I honestly haven’t even done that” Hermione smirked. ”That honour went to Rowena MacLeod who I'm frankly surprised is still on the loose.” she tapped her nails against the armrest of her chair.

”We just need the location of the Winchesters.” Auror Everglade butted in gently.

”I don’t know where they are. Sorry.” she shrugged. She wasn’t technically lying either. They were often on the road. ”What do you need them for, exactly?” she narrowed her eyes at them.

Auror Everglade fidgeted uncomfortably and looked away.

”They’re due for an obliviation. They know too much. They’re just muggles. They don’t have the necessary resources or power to manage the issues regarding vampires, werewolves and the like.”

Hermione’s eyebrows rose high on her forehead ”Not the necessary – are you actually kidding me? And where were _you_ during the apocalypse? Or the threat of the Darkness? What do _you_ plan on doing with Lucifer who is roaming free as we speak?”

The Chief Auror huffed. ”Whatever issues the Judeo-Christians are having are not our problem.”

Hermione laughed incredulously ”Do you honestly believe Lucifer will care if you believe in him or not before he rips your heart out? He will _tear_ through humanity, magical or no-maj. Whatever power you think you have – it’ll be no match for an archangel. _Trust me.”_

Chief Auror Ironwood leaned back in his chair considering her for a moment. ”Miss Granger, I understand that you’re somewhat of a big deal across the pond but let me assure you that that will be of no benefit to you here.”

“I have to admit that I don’t really care.” She shrugged. “What crime am I here for, exactly?”

“I told you. Breaking the Statute of Secrecy” Ironwood raised an eyebrow at her and tapped his nails against the steel table

“Which I’ve told you I didn’t do” she rolled her eyes in exasperation. Auror Everglade looked like he would like to be anywhere else but in that room.

“And this is where I believe we’re at an impasse. In order to prove your innocence, we need to see the Winchesters. But you won’t give them up.” Ironwood stood from the chair and gestured for Everglade to go first. Everglade opened the door and left with a final glance in her direction.

“Please let us know when you’re ready to talk about the location of Sam and Dean, miss Granger” Ironwood smirked and stepped out too.

The door slammed shut and Hermione was alone again.

“Well fuck.”

...

Gabriel was in agony. He felt violated as his grace was harvested again and again and again only to be perverted in the body that the demon Asmodeus was occupying. Every time his grace replenished, he had to feel it leaving his body when they cut into him, spilling it. He was forced to watch Asmodeus inject himself with it like a common junkie and forced to watch how _his_ grace was merged with the mangled and depraved excuse of a soul. He was forced to watch as _his_ abilities were morphed and abused to commit the most atrocious crimes. That was almost worse than the actual torture he went through. Seeing that disgusting piece of shit use _his_ power, consume _his_ grace.

They were particularly careful with the torture. Maximum pain with minimal damage. Enough to keep him subdued, but not enough to kill him. At first, he had fought every time Asmodeus came near him. He would give it everything he had to try to prevent that perv from taking his essence, but Asmodeus soon learned that in order to keep him down, he took grace from him in smaller portions, but more frequently, keeping him drained constantly. In his weakened state, he couldn’t fight back. He couldn’t protest. Slowly he lost sense of time. Had it been days? Weeks? Months?

At one point he heard that his baby bro Cas was there along with Lucifer and he idly wondered if they were there to bust him out. But then he decided that that was silly. Cas wouldn’t be so stupid as to work with Lucifer again. He was probably just so far gone that he was starting to lose his mind.

He giggled hysterically, making the demon guarding his cage look at him in fear.

...

Hermione sat still, trying to look relaxed, not willing to show any signs of intimidation. And she wasn’t intimidated - she was starting to get quite annoyed though. She was mentally going through more textbooks and made sure to move her hands and feet from time to time to keep her circulation going. She wondered if her wandless magic had become strong enough to cancel the binding spell but didn’t have the courage to try it out for fear of detection. Her wandless skills were one of her best assets and something the Aurors would be entirely unprepared for. Her other skillsets had been neglected for too long to be entirely helpful. She huffed to herself in disappointment over her own lack of self-discipline. Complacency was a killer.

She estimated it had been around 24 hours when a wizard she hadn’t yet encountered stepped through the door. He was a skinny thing but with magic, looks could be deceiving. Luna's willowy form made her look as if she could float away at any given time, but magically she packed quite a punch, so to speak.

She calmly observed him as he crossed the cell to where she was sitting. He fixed magical manacles around her wrists before undoing the ropes tying her to the chair. As soon as the ropes retracted, the manacles snapped together and locked. Smart system.

The wizard didn’t speak and didn’t even look at her as he forced her into a standing position. He waved his wand and a door that hadn’t been visible previously appeared behind her. He led her through the door and down a long corridor by the arm which he was holding in a stronger grip than she had anticipated.

The corridor was windowless, and the walls were covered with the same kind of steel plating as the interrogation room. After walking for almost five minutes, they reached an elevator that held none of the grandeur like the ones at the atrium.

The ride down was spent in equal silence and Hermione was starting to feel awkward. Just as she was about to say something, they had reached their apparent destination. The elevator dinged and the doors opened to reveal another long corridor covered in steel, this one with rows of doors on both sides.

Prison cells. Joy.

Unsurprisingly, the Wizard who had escorted her, opened a door leading into a cell that was almost devoid of furniture. There was a cot in one corner and a toilet in the other. No sheets or blanket on the cot and not even a curtain to protect her modesty when she had to go to the loo.

She was about to ask the guy if he was serious, but he had already left. The door shut with a resounding boom, and as soon as she heard the locking wards being activated, her manacles opened automatically and fell to the ground with a clack.

The American Aurors were surprisingly incompetent, which served her well at the moment. Auror Everglade had only given her an incredibly superficial search. He had missed the beaded bag she kept in her right boot and the silvery knife made from a melted down angel blade she kept in the left.

She cast an opaque shield charm before relieving herself on the toilet. When she finished, she wandlessly set up silent wards to wake her if anyone came close to the door before going to sleep wearing all her clothes.

Once per day, her door would open and an Auror would enter with a tray of food and ask if she was ready to give up the Winchesters. After she refused, they would leave, and she would dig out a book from her small beaded bag. One time per week, Chief Auror Douche Canoe would come in all his glory to goad her a little, only to get frustrated when it didn’t work.

After three weeks, Hermione was beyond antsy. She was planning to bust out once she had reached four weeks, but she never got that long.

One morning, the Auror who was supposed to bring her food had a strange glazed look to him. He stepped inside and gave her the tray but didn’t close the door and didn’t move or ask her the usual questions. When Hermione looked down at the tray, she saw that where her food was supposed to be, her wand lay instead.

She gasped and looked at the Auror wide-eyed, but he didn’t show any kind of reaction. She realised the man was under the Imperio, which could have bad consequences for her, so instead of just running, she slipped her wand into her boot and used the heavy steel tray to knock out the guard. Hopefully, they would think she had broken out by force and not by magic. She hurried down the corridor in the direction she had come from when she first arrived, but when she reached the elevator, she realised that it was password-activated. Just as she was about to turn in the other direction, the elevator dinged and the doors opened, revealing Auror Everglade.

“Shit” Hermione hissed and started in the other direction, but Everglade’s arm shot out and he pulled her into the elevator with him.

“Listen carefully. When we get out, you need to do exactly as I tell you or else, we’ll both be thrown in a Death Cell.” He murmured quickly.

“Alright, but as soon as we’re out, I’m going to have to ask some questions.

Everglade nodded. “It won’t be long before the enchantment on Phillips is going to break and then he’ll sound the alarm” He continued.

“Oh, but I knocked him out” Hermione remarked.

Everglade blinked. “Oh. Right. I suppose that’s another way to do it. But if he sounds the alarm or if someone else does it when they find him won’t matter all that much, but when they do, they will lock this place down, so we need to be out before then.”

Hermione nodded. “We’ll cast a notice-me-not charm, but I’m going to disguise myself just in case.” She concentrated hard and felt a tingling in her scalp as her hair changed, turning blond and straight. It felt like someone was pulling her nose as it got more pointed and her eyes stung as the irises turned from brown to green.

Everglade looked at her appreciatively “I didn’t know you were a metamorphmagus”

“I’m not” Hermione told him but didn’t feel like elaborating. She pulled her beaded bag from her boot and summoned a coat from it. It was an old-fashioned thing with faux fur trimmings. It matched the wizarding world perfectly. She pulled it on just as the elevator arrived at their destination. It was a different floor than the interrogation room she had been in before. It looked like a large empty office space with a bullpen.

Hermione frowned in confusion at the emptiness.

“It’s Saturday.” Everglade offered as explanation. “This way”

“Wait!” Hermione grabbed his hand “I’m going to cast the notice-me-not” She drew her wand from her boot and cast the charm.

They passed several offices on the way down a grand corridor until they reached a small door at the end which was almost unnoticeable.

“In here” Everglade whispered.

It was a dark stairway that led so far down Hermione couldn’t see the bottom.

“We need to go down there, right?” Hermione asked rhetorically.

“Best if we hurry it along.”

They ran down the steps so fast that Hermione almost slipped on them several times.

Just as they reached the last part of the stairs and the door to the outside was in sight, the alarm sounded. It was a loud ringing that went all the way into your skull, resonating there for hours.

Hermione heard the locks slam on the door and Auror Everglade cursing loudly. She screamed in frustration and to her surprise, the door blew off its hinges.

The first gulps of fresh air felt as if she had never taken a breath before and she blinked in the sunlight. But they weren’t out of danger yet.

Everglade looked at her in surprise as she reached out her hand.

“We need to get out of here. Are you staying or are you coming with me?” She offered.

He looked back at the door that had been twisted out of shape. “It’s my day off anyway” he shrugged and took her hand.

They disappeared with a ‘ _pop’_.


	21. Eat chocolate - you'll feel better

They emerged in a small forest outside a small rural town in Kentucky. Hermione set up protective wards immediately, including some sigils in Enochian around the border and a muggle repelling charm. She did it with speed and precision and Everglade looked on in fascination as she did all of it wandlessly.

She then pulled her beaded bag out of her boot, pulled out the tent and erected it with a flick of her hand. She walked inside and held the tent flap open

”So, Auror Everglade. Welcome to my humble abode.” She smiled at him.

”Just call me Eric" he shrugged. ”It’s a nice tent you’ve got. Mine smells like doxy droppings"

”Eric, huh? That’s… surprisingly normal"

”Well, I’m No-Maj-Born. Just like yourself.” He shrugged again and put his hands in his coat pockets self-consciously.

”Is that why you saved me?” Hermione inquired.

”Partly.” he smiled at her crookedly. Y'see wizards don’t really care so much about No-majs. They dismiss them entirely and when you’re No-Maj-Born they don’t really bother with background checks because they think No-Maj's don’t have any influence on the wizarding world.”

Hermione snorted “No kidding”

She certainly knew that. No one had ever cared to ask any deeper questions about her parents. They only asked out of politeness. All she ever had to say was ’dentists’ and their attention went elsewhere. She even had a full cover-story, but she had never had to use it, because no one cared. Except for Mr. Weasley, but she could have told him that her parents were wobblygongers who fixed dinkelhoppers and he would have believed her. Poor man.

”They would never have let me into the Auror Corps if they had bothered to check, ‘cause then they would have found out that my mom's maiden name was Campbell.” he continued.

”Campbell as in… Mary Campbell?” Hermione lifted an eyebrow at him and went to sit down at the small dining table.

Eric nodded and joined her.

”But they’re all… Are you seriously a wizard from a family of hunters?” she asked him incredulously.

”Yup" he popped the ’p' ”No one in the family knows of course, other than my parents, but I’m a somewhat distant cousin of Sam and Dean’s. And Campbells take family very seriously. I figured you wouldn’t crack on the first day. You seemed like the loyal type from what I'd heard. I was worried that maybe you’d start to talk soon. Isolation does strange things to people. You’re welcome by the way, for letting you keep your stuff.”

”Oh! I thought that maybe you were just… you know. Being sloppy" she shrugged.

”Sloppy? C'mon. What kinda guy do you take me for?” he frowned at her in mock offence.

”Well, considering that I don’t know you at all, I'll reserve judgement.” she told him not unkindly.

He nodded ”That’s fair enough. If you don’t mind my asking – how do you even know Sam and Dean? Last I checked they weren’t exactly pro witches" he leaned forward, with his elbows on the table .

”Well, my boyfriend and I helped them with something a couple of years back.” She shrugged, not willing to give up more information. ”What will you do now?” she asked him.

He considered it for a moment ”I'll probably just go home. I don’t think anything can be traced back to me. Phillips didn’t see me when I put the curse on him. He was the one who logged out your wand and you know how backwards the wizards are. They won’t admit that something so No-Maj as video surveillance is a good idea, so there is none" he smirked.

Hermione chuckled. ”Good. I'd hate to ruin anything for you.”

Eric snorted ”I can always go back to the family business" he winked at her.

Hermione nodded. ”If – or when I tell Sam and Dean about this – do you want me to leave you out of the story?”

”Nah, it’s fine. Just tell them that the son of Alice Campbell says hi.” He smirked and stood. He pulled a piece of paper out of his pocket and put it on the table. ”That’s my number. Call me if you ever need anything. Hunter-ties or not, us No-Maj-Born need to stick together.” he nodded, and Hermione showed him out. He waved in greeting and as soon as he had left her wards and disapparated, she packed the tent back up. The had the feeling that he was telling the truth, but there was no reason to take any chances. She cancelled the glamour charms and apparated to Massachusetts, making sure to be seen near the wizarding district in Salem before doing the same in Sweetwater, Texas; Williamsburg, Virginia; Charleston, South Carolina; Twin Falls, Idaho and Phoenix, Arizona.

When she was sure she had been seen by wizards and witches all over the US, effectively messing up the tracks, she apparated to the middle of nowhere in Monongahela National Forest, far off the beaten path to regroup. She set up her usual wards and the tent. She was officially a fugitive. Again. She tried to call Sam, but he didn’t pick up. She needed to warn the brothers that wizards were out to get them.

She hesitated before calling someone else. She waited while it rang once. Twice, three times. Just as she was about to hang up, someone answered.

 _”Hello?”_ the sleepy voice responded.

”Harry? I'm sorry I woke you up"

She heard the noise of bedsheets being shifted around. ” _HERMIONE!”_ the voice exclaimed, now fully awake. _”Hermione, what’s going on? I heard you were taken into custody, but no one would tell me anything and I wasn’t allowed to go to see you! Did they let you go? Where are you now? Do you need me to come get you?”_

Hermione hesitated. ”Not… exactly.” She told him carefully.

Harry sighed heavily _”Merlin’s balls, Hermione”_ he grumbled. _”You broke out, didn’t you?”_

”Yes. I did. But I shouldn’t have been there to begin with!” she defended.

 _”Where are you?”_ Harry requested.

”Can’t tell you, Harry. That would make you complicit. I just wanted to tell you that I'm out and I’m fine. Someone is probably going to want to interrogate you and I didn’t want you to hear it from them.”

Harry sighed again. _”Are you sure you know what you’re doing, Hermione?”_

She snorted ”I honestly haven’t the foggiest, but I’m not one to sell out my friends. You know that.”

Harry was silent for a while _”What was it even about?”_

”They accused me of breaking the Statute of Secrecy. They want to obliviate the Winchesters and tried to get me to give up their location in order to save my own arse.” She growled

Harry snorted. _”They don’t know you very-"_

He was interrupted by a loud banging _”they’re here"_ he sighed _”take care of yourself. Don’t do anything stupid"_

Hermione chuckled ”when have you ever known me to do something stupid?”

 _”Is that a rhetorical question? I need to go. Stay safe"_ he hissed and hung up.

She put the phone down on the table and went to find a cup and some tea leaves, but as soon as she had pulled the cup out of the cupboard, she heard the buzzing of the vibrating phone on the wooden table and the cheerful tune that followed.

She scrambled to get it when she saw that the caller ID was ”Samsquatch"

”Sam?”

 _”Hermione! You’re – we have him.”_ Sam breathed at the other end of the line.

”What?” She asked confusedly.

 _”Gabriel. We have him.”_ he sounded apprehensive and Hermione didn’t like it one bit.

”Where are you, Sam?” she demanded, her heart pounding away in her chest.

” _Look, Hermione, you should know that he really isn’t himself.”_ Sam said with pity in his voice. She hated pity.

”I really don’t care, Sam. Where are you? Are you at the bunker?” she persisted.

Sam hesitated ”Yes.”

”I'll be right there" she hung up and packed her things faster than she ever had before. She turned on her heel and broke into a run as soon as she had landed in front of the bunker. She flung open the door and ran down the stairs

“Sam? Gabe?” She called out

Sam came jogging out of the library and met her in the war room. The first thing she noticed was the blood on his hands. He tried to stop her, but Hermione pushed past him and hurried into the library.

“Look, Hermione. He’s not himself right now. I don’t know exactly what they did to him, but-" Sam tried

Tears pooled in her eyes, and she slowed down when she saw Gabriel sitting in the chair in dirty clothes, covered in blood and with lips still halfway sewn shut. A medical kit lay unfolded on the table next to a bowl of water mixed with blood. He flinched when she entered his field of vision and wouldn’t look at her when she knelt in front of him.

“Gabriel” She breathed.

She reached out a hand and he flinched and tried to get away, but she wouldn’t let him. She caressed his right cheek slowly, pouring her love into the touch. Wherever her fingers had been, clean skin emerged. The wounds knitted themselves together and the blood disappeared. She reached out her other hand and this time he didn’t flinch when she touched his left cheek. She used it to turn his face in her direction and he barely resisted. She looked directly into his eyes and even if it wasn’t his fault, it still stung when he looked at her without recognition. She kept looking into those eyes though, determined to get through to him. She still moved her hands about his face, healing it as she went along. The wound on his cheekbone and the gashes on his forehead.

She moved one thumb down and slowly ran it across his lips, vanishing the thread and healing the skin as she went along.

…

Gabriel felt as if he was under water. He was constantly drowning, which was silly because he couldn’t drown. Right? Something told him that it shouldn’t be possible for him to drown. He didn’t know though. He didn’t know much other than that he wanted the pain to stop. He wanted the rough hands to stop grabbing him, he wanted the hands to stop hurting him, to stop taking his life – his grace from him. He wanted to be small as a mouse and hide from the rough hands.

But he couldn’t. He was certain that he had been able to do that once. But not anymore. The rough hands had taken it from him. The rough hands and the White Suit.

He hated that white suit. And he feared it. But more than anything, he hated that he feared it.

He was supposed to be more, he was sure of it, but he was stuck. He might not have been able to turn himself into a mouse, but he could still make himself small. He had curled himself up inside his head, trying to protect himself from the next wave of pain that was bound to come soon.

He saw something come towards his face. It was the rough hands. He flinched, trying to get away, but when it touched him, it wasn’t rough at all. The hand was soft and instead of moving fast to cause pain, it moved slowly, tingling his skin wherever it touched, making it feel better. He felt another soft hand on the other cheek and he reluctantly let it turn his head.

There were two orbs in front of him. Part of them had a colour he liked. Brown? Yes, brown. But it was a special brown. He felt something stirring in his memory and was reminded of a taste that he missed. But there was something more. He could feel his heart beat faster and for a moment he thought it was because of fear, but then he realized that he wasn’t actually afraid anymore.

He felt one of the fingers from one of the soft hands touch the painful stitches of his lips, relieving them of the pain and the pressure they had been under for so long.

He kept staring at those orbs. No. Eyes – they were eyes. And he had seen those eyes before, long ago in something that seemed like a foolish dream.

“Her – Hermione?” He whispered uncertainly. His voice was almost gone. For a long time, it hadn’t been used for anything other than screaming.

He started noticing the face around the eyes he was staring at. He recognised each and every feature and it sparked his memory. The way her eyebrow would lift when she thought he was being an idiot. The way her cheeks would turn pink when he said something obscene in public. Her lips were stretched into a wide smile. Oh, those lips and the memories they held.

“Gabriel” She gasped, and tears started pooling in her eyes.

…

Sam wasn’t surprised that Hermione had appeared just a few moments after they hung up. What he _was_ surprised by, was the fact that she was covered by dust and small bits of debris from what seemed to be a demolished house. He wanted to ask her about it but realised that it might not be the right time.

He watched the scene unfold in fascination. It felt like an incredibly intimate moment, but to see the two of them together was captivating. When she started healing Gabriel, the lights dimmed slightly and he figured that maybe she was drawing on the electricity to heal him – after all, healing an archangel probably took some juice.

She went about it slowly, and he could almost see, when Gabriel started emerging from the shell, he had buried himself in. Sam turned around when they finally reconnected. It was too private.

Suddenly the lights dimmed again, and Sam turned around to find them locked in a soft embrace. She was healing the rest of Gabriel’s body, he realised.

They let go of each other soon enough, and Hermione eased Gabriel back onto the chair. She rummaged around in her impossible purse and pulled out a block of chocolate the size of a brick. She broke it into large pieces for all three of them.

“You don’t have to say what happened Gabe. Not yet. Just eat some chocolate. You’ll feel better.” She winked at Gabriel as she passed a piece to him.

Sam huffed a small laugh when Gabriel bit it cautiously and then almost collapsed in relaxation with a moan of delight.

Hermione smiled softly at the angel. “Every bloody time”

“Hermione, where have you been?” He asked. “I’ve tried calling you so many times over the past few weeks.”

“Prison.” She deadpanned. “Just busted out today” She smirked at him and Gabriel choked slightly.

“Are you saying I’m dating an escaped convict?” He asked her hoarsely.

Hermione shrugged “Technically I was never convicted of anything.” She smiled cheekily at the angel.

Sam huffed in laughter “is that why you’re covered in rubble?”

“Oh! Yes. I'd forgotten about that. Anyway, did you find Jack?” She questioned Sam in concern.

Sam sighed heavily. “We did, but we lost him again.”

“You what?” She hissed dangerously

“He’s in Apocalypse World. Where our mom is.”

Hermione sucked in a breath “It just keeps getting better and better"

“It kinda is. It’s been a challenge, but with Gabriel’s grace, we finally have everything we need to open another portal.” Sam smiled in relief.

Gabriel frowned “Hate to break to ya Sammy, but I don’t think I have any grace left. It’s gonna take some time to recharge” he scratched his neck self consciously.

Sam debated with himself whether or not to show it, but eventually deciding that it wouldn’t be fair to keep it to himself.

He pulled the two small vials of archangel grace from his pocket and set them down on the table. He saw Gabriel stand up straight and stare at them hungrily.

“I'd like that back, please.” He ground out.

“Wait, Gabe.” Hermione interrupted, standing up next to him, putting a hand on his arm.

“But my mojo, Hermione! My mojo!” Gabriel protested with the hint of a whine.

Hermione smiled gently at him “Your mojo will come back on its own, honey. Their mum won’t. Jack – your nephew won’t.” Hermione smiled fondly “I've met him, Gabe. You’ll love him. He loves Star Wars – and nougat. He's probably one of the sweetest persons I’ve ever met. But right now, that boy is trapped in another world. A world where the apocalypse _did_ happen. Imagine what it’s like over there. I want him to come home.”

Gabriel sighed heavily and sat back down in defeat. “Do you need all of it?” He asked, looking Sam directly in the eye, almost daring him to lie.

“I uh – I don’t know” he chuckled nervously. “We probably just need one, but maybe we could do the spell first and then you could have the rest?” he practically begged.

Gabriel frowned. “Fine" he relented. “But put it back in your pocket. It’s too tempting to just have it standing there, looking at me.

Sam gave him a small smile “Thank you, Gabriel. It means a lot.” He told the archangel earnestly.

“Yeah yeah, just don’t waste it or I'm gonna be pissed.”

Sam nodded. “Look, maybe you guys should go clean up. No offense, but you’re both filthy" he gave the couple a crooked smile.

Gabriel smiled lewdly as he turned towards Hermione giving her a once-over. “Oh yeah. I think I need to wash you, honey. Thoroughly. And since I don’t have any grace, it’ll have to be the human way" he shrugged in fake apology and Hermione blushed.

Sam huffed “Maybe- maybe you should shower separately?” he suggested feebly.

Gabriel rolled his eyes “Fat chance of that. You could join it you wanted?” Gabriel offered and as always, Sam had a difficult time telling whether or not he was serious.

“He most certainly _could not_ ” Hermione hissed in outrage before Sam had a chance to. She grabbed the angel by the collar and pulled him towards the living quarters. Sam didn’t know whether to be grateful or disgusted, but at least Gabriel was somewhat back to his normal self. That had to count for something.

He started cleaning up the stuff he had used, trying to help Gabriel. He frowned. Rowena was the most powerful witch he had ever met, but even she had to rely on spells and rituals. Hermione had healed Gabriel with her touch alone. Had Gabriel rubbed off on her (Bad choice of words, Sam, he thought in disgust) or was it something else?

He was sitting with a beer, bent over a book when he heard footsteps and looked up to see Dean come walking with a duffel bag slung over his shoulder and his arms full of ritualistic items. He paused slightly when he noticed Gabriel was gone but continued past Sam to the other end of the small library.

“All right let’s do this” he nodded to himself as he set the things down on the last table and took stock of them to see that he had everything.

Sam looked at the place Hermione and Gabriel had been “Uh, shouldn’t we wait?”

Dean frowned at him “Wait? Why? We got everything we need. Everything else is just burning daylight. Come on. Let’s open this door.” He started preparing the items.

“All right. I’ll gather my gear” He shrugged and turned around.

Dean cleared his throat “Uh, hold on. I’m heading in alone.”

“What?” Sam frowned in confusion. “You can’t go in alone.”

Dean walked closer and spoke to Sam in low tones “Look. We got a busted-up archangel here. And who the hell knows what else? Okay? Somebody’s gotta stay here, just in case.”

Sam frowned and thought of Hermione and Gabriel. He was certain that Hermione would be able to defend the bunker, even if Gabriel didn’t have any juice.

He heard another set of footsteps and looked around to see Ketch coming in, wearing full tactical gear.

“And I’m coming with you. As I said, Asmodeus will be hunting me to the earth, so it’s better if I’m not on this Earth.” He shrugged, ever pragmatic.

“It’s not much better over there.” Sam warned. “You know it’s a war zone, right?”

Ketch smiled with the air of slight condescension that his entire being seemed to be soaking in “Won’t be my first, shan’t be my last"

“Fine" Dean nodded

“Fine?” Sam questioned “So you want _Ketch_ to go and not me?” he hissed in disbelief.

Dean shrugged “I don’t care if he dies – Hell, I’m kinda rooting for it.”

“Still... You can’t-“ Sam tried, but Dean cut him off

“No, I have to. It takes something that’s been over there to open the right door, so that’s either you or me. So, I'm gonna go. And if something happens to me, if time runs out, then I need you to come and save me and whoever else. Okay?” Dean argued.

It made sense. He hated when Dean made sense. Still, even if it made sense, he didn’t like it.

“Don’t worry, I'll take care of your brother” Ketch butted in unnecessarily.

Caught up in their bickering they hadn’t noticed the other two people coming in.

“Arthur? What are you doing here?” Hermione’s light voice interrupted in confusion.

Ketch turned around slowly, slack jawed and white as a ghost. His eyes widened in recognition when he saw the young curly-haired witch who stood, equally surprised at the entrance to the library, hand in hand with Gabriel.

“Hermione?” he breathed in reverent disbelief


	22. Peter Pan

“Hermione” the assassin breathed. “You - you’re alive?” He stood slack jawed, staring at Hermione.

Hermione’s lips thinned, but her only response was a nod. “Why didn’t you – why didn’t you come to find me? Why didn’t you tell me?” Ketch continued with a broken expression. The most emotion Sam had ever seen from the man.

Hermione swallowed “I-" But she didn’t get any further before Dean’s inevitable explosion.

“What the hell?! Now _you two_ know each other?!” he drew his gun from his bag with lightning speed.

Sam didn't know what to think or feel other than betrayal. Had she been a spy all this time? But why did Ketch think she was dead then?

“Can someone please explain?” Sam requested. He could feel his jaw tensing – that was going to give him a headache later.

Hermione tried to start but was interrupted again. ”What – is it a British thing? Do all of you know each other?” Dean snarked.

Hermione took a deep breath but didn’t seem able to find her words.

Ketch sighed deeply. “Let me, darling. There are unfortunately parts of the equation you also aren’t privy to yet.” he gently requested after seeing her struggle.

Hermione frowned at the man but sat down next to Gabriel in the chairs they had previously occupied.

Ketch stood for a while, with everyone looking at him expectantly.

“First, I'm going to ask everyone to please refrain from killing me. Many of these things, I didn’t learn until very recently. When the field office was set up here in the US, there were some vulnerabilities in the system. I managed to pull information from the databases even beyond my clearance level. I haven’t managed to decrypt everything yet, but I’ve been searching intentionally for information about you.” He looked intently at Hermione who nodded slowly.

Dean looked as if he were about to protest, but Sam put his hand on the gun, lowering it. “Let’s just hear it, Dean.”

Ketch sighed heavily. “I suppose it’s easier to start at the beginning. For your benefit as well, Hermione. I swear to you, I had no idea.”

Hermione frowned.

“I'll start with Henry Winchester.”

“Winchester?” Hermione looked at him puzzled.

Dean quirked an eyebrow. “What, our granddad?”

“Yes. I believe you are both aware that he was part of the Men of Letters here in America before the chapter went down. Even though the Men of Letters here were defunct, his son, John was still a legacy. And the Men of Letters keep track of legacies.” Ketch looked at both Sam and Dean in turn. “Which means that the Men of Letters also kept an eye on John’s children. All of them.” He pursed his lips.

“So, me, Dean and Adam.” Sam offered as he sat down across from Hermione.

Ketch took a deep breath. “As I said, the Men of Letters had been keeping an eye on John Winchester. First, he sired Dean and Sam with Mary Campbell before Azazel decided to kill her.” Ketch took a deep breath and continued “Years later Adam Milligan came along and a year after that, child number four entered the world.”

“Wait what? Number four? Why didn’t we know about this?” Sam asked, but a pit started forming in his stomach.

Ketch started pacing. “John Winchester was a complicated man. You know that more than anyone. But he was especially known for his hatred of all parts of the supernatural. For this reason, when the fourth child at an incredibly young age, started displaying certain abilities, it was decided that an extraction was needed in order to protect said child.” Ketch regarded Dean and Sam carefully, as if he were afraid that they would take it as an insult to their father, but facts were facts. Their dad wasn’t the most tolerant person.

“What, he had powers like Sammy? And what do you mean, ‘extraction’?” Dean inquired, finally laying the gun on the table, leaning against it.

“Not quite. When she was not even two years old, she started showing signs of magic. Things that she wanted would levitate towards her. If she were dissatisfied with something, it would be undone in the blink of an eye. With John Winchester’s habit of shooting first and asking questions later, the Elders at the Men of Letters decided to dispatch a team to take the child back to England where she would become a ward of the Men of Letters. She was the youngest in history to be enrolled at Kendricks Academy.” Ketch looked at Hermione significantly

“What?” Hermione whispered “I’m – I had – I had a family? Why didn’t you tell me?” she whispered wetly at Ketch with a look of deep betrayal on her face.

Ketch looked at her apologetically and stopped pacing. “I honestly didn’t know, Hermione. I only acquired access to your file a few weeks ago.” He looked at her in sympathy. “Every time I rose in the ranks, every time I reached a new clearance level, the first thing I would do was to look up information about you to try to find out what happened to you.”

Sam’s gasped and felt his jaw slacken when he pieced the things together. Dean was looking at Hermione with a frown until he too realised the implications, his eyes widening comically.

“She's our sis- she's my _sister_?! God, I think I'm gonna hurl" he exclaimed in horror, sitting down heavily, leaning forwards.

“Dean!” Sam admonished.

“No, you don’t understand, Sammy. I thought that... you know. I mean. I figured maybe if those guys weren’t... maybe I was going to -" he interrupted himself, burying his head in his hands, taking deep breaths.

“You were going to what?” Gabriel growled, scowling at Dean.

Hermione blushed. “I don’t think it matters anymore, Gabe.”

“And it’s not like it even mattered in the first place. You guys are very much together, and everyone knows and respects that." Sam placated. “Hell, if Luke and Leia could get over it, so can you. And nothing ever happened between you two, right?”

“No!” Hermione and Dean vehemently denied in unison, equally scandalised.

Sam shrugged “There you go. So, um - you’re like part of the Men of Letters?” He guessed uncomfortably, having absolutely no trust in the organisation.

“Absolutely not!” She sneered, with more hatred than he had ever seen her express.

“But Ketch just said you'd been to Kendricks Academy.” Sam pointed out.

Hermione sighed heavily; her hatred ran out fast and gave way to something else. Something tired and fragile that Sam didn’t feel entirely comfortable with. The time he had known her she had been a force to be reckoned with. Even when things were at their bleakest, she seemed to be an unstoppable force.

“I need a cup of tea.” She mumbled and got up. Gabriel stood to follow her, but she stopped him with a hand on his shoulder and a gently smile. “You should stay, Gabe.” She told the angel. “You need to hear this, but I don't think I can tell it. I just need a cup of tea to calm down and I'll be back. Arthur will fill you in.” She sniffled and padded towards the kitchen.

Sam, Dean and Gabriel all looked to Ketch who stood, gripping the backrest of a chair so hard that his knuckles were turning white. He was staring at the table, his mouth set in a grim line. When Hermione was out of hearing range, he continued.

“Hermione was taken by the Men of Letters and once in Britain, she was placed with a foster family with one of the members of the organisation.”

“But what about her mom?” Dean inquired with a frown.

“Her mother didn’t make it. She died during the extraction.” Ketch told them grimly and they all knew that odds were that her mother was never meant to survive.

“The first couple of years she was given an almost normal childhood. That changed drastically when one of the Men of Letters contacts at Downing Street reported having overheard a strange late-night conversation at the night of the election of the new Prime Minister. A conversation between the Prime Minister and a man claiming to be the Minister for Magic. It became clear that not only was Hermione not the only one with this type of power – there was an entire secret community hiding in plain sight, with its own governmental structure, tied to ours. They posed an immense supernatural threat, but they wouldn’t be easily disposed of. The first problem being the sheer number of them and the second being their high level of organisation. The Elders decided that the best course of action would be to learn as much about this newly exposed threat as possible and in order to do so, they took Hermione from her foster family to use her as an asset.”

Sam noticed Ketch’s jaw clench and unclench. Gabriel was sitting in his chair looking at Ketch with a crestfallen expression as if he knew what the direction the story of the woman he loved would take.

Dean looked grim. He imagined his own expression mirrored his brother’s. Whatever had happened, wouldn’t be pretty.

“They... experimented on her." Ketch told them with a voice, quivering with anger. “She was four years old when the experiments started, and they went on for years.” He whispered quietly.

Sam’s heart broke and it got even more painful when he saw the otherwise carefree Gabriel with tears streaming down his cheeks. Dean for his part looked empty.

Ketch ran a hand down is face, looking tired.

He finally sat down on the chair that he had been clutching.

“When I finished the academy and I received my first assignment I was _incensed._ I was 25, at the top of my game, and what do they present me with? A tiny slip of a 6-year-old girl.” He sighed. “They wanted me to _train_ her.” He sneered

“Train her?” Sam scoffed. “What can you even train a 6-year-old girl for?”

Ketch pinched the bridge of his nose. “Were you not trained from a young age, Samuel? The Men of Letters wanted to prepare her as a spy of sorts and a weapon. They were still conducting experiments to try to understand her power and its limitations, but they wanted me to train her to fight. They wanted me to turn her into a killer. Like me. Someone who upheld the code and followed orders without question” He confessed bitterly.

“Why the hell didn’t you just take that kid and run?” Dean demanded roughly.

“And run where, exactly? Where would I run with a 6-year-old child? I don’t think you comprehend the stakes. At that time, she was one of the most important assets to the Men of Letters. You saw the resources we brought here to what was considered a small low-priority project. Imagine that times a million and you might have an inkling of understanding of the Men of Letters in Britain and that’s not even counting the political influence. I wouldn’t have been able to even _think_ about running before I would be apprehended and beheaded. And then where would she be? Who would protect her? Don’t presume for a _second_ you know what it was like for us there" Ketch hissed at Dean with a threatening scowl.

“I did everything I could with what little power I had, which at the time was negligible at best. I convinced them that she needed longer time between experiments so she could recover lest her exhaustion interfered with their results. I convinced them to let her out of isolation so she could learn to interact with others, I convinced them to move her rooms next to mine so I could help her at night when she woke from the nightmares. I patched her up and I comforted her.” He continued forcefully. “She was like a daughter to me. Or at the very least a younger sister. She was the only family I ever had.” His voice shook with a mixture of anger, sadness and guilt.

“It wasn’t his fault.” Hermione contributed sadly as she returned with a freshly brewed cup of tea and sat down next to Gabriel. “It was a hard life, but we made do with what we had. And he did get me out eventually. " she told them in a small voice, the trauma painted clearly on her face as if it had happened yesterday and Sam’s heart clenched. She had been through a war, where she fought fearlessly, was captured and tortured, but it was clearly her early childhood that had been the worst. He knew that his had been shitty, but he had never looked like that when talking about it. She looked like Dean had when he first came out of hell.

“I was _overjoyed_ when she received her letter – that she was supposed to start her magical schooling. Because it was a _boarding s_ chool. That way she would be out. They wouldn’t get to have an influence on her in at least some of her formative years.”

He smiled wryly and Hermione looked away. “And what does the little twit do? She befriends the boy with the biggest target on his back" Ketch huffed in exasperation.

“Harry was nice to me! He still is!” Hermione defended.

“Maybe so, but he put you in danger.” He pointed out.

“Well, someone had to look out for him.” She crossed her arms and leaned back in her chair, looking every bit like an obstinate teenager, arguing with her dad.

Sam smiled slightly. It was a much better look on her than the defeated mouse from previously.

Ketch huffed “And who was looking out for you, I ask you?”

“We looked out for each other. Even Ron.” Hermione smiled fondly.

“I never liked that boy.” Ketch grumbled, making Sam want to laugh out loud with how bizarre it all was.

“Me neither.” Gabriel contributed.

“Don’t get me started on you! Don’t think I haven’t seen the way you look at her, Gabriel" Ketch practically growled at the angel. “I know your reputation. If you hurt her, I _will_ _end you_ , archangel or not." he ground out, looking straight at Gabriel who sat wide-eyed, never having had _the talk_ before. Hermione blushed and hid her face in her hands in mortification.

Sam felt himself smiling slightly and Dean, for some reason, glowered at Gabriel harder than he ever had before, which was saying something.

“Then what happened?” Sam asked, feeling the need to diffuse the situation.

Hermione sighed and filled them in on the first few years of her magical schooling. How she had helped preventing an evil spirit gain immortality. How she had been petrified by a basilisk and how she had been taught by a werewolf for an entire year and thereby gaining sympathy for the creatures.

“This was where things started to go wrong.” Ketch took over. “The Men of Letters had noticed that Hermione had grown more and more independent with spending the majority of her time in the wizarding world. She was ‘going native' so to speak and when she returned from her third year, speaking about rights for werewolves and other magical creatures, it was determined that she had become a liability rather than an asset. The Elders feared that she would reveal the existence of the Men of Letters to members of the wizarding world and decided that it would be better to terminate her before she returned to school.” Ketch tiredly ran a hand down his face. “In order to prove my loyalty, I was put in charge of killing her. I shot her and threw her over a bridge. That’s the last I ever saw of her.” He pursed his lips and looked pointedly at Hermione, who cut off the incredulous protests from the other men who looked ready to slaughter Ketch for his confession.

“What Arthur in his usual overdramatic way is neglecting to say is that he had me contact my old teacher. The one who was a werewolf. He was waiting underneath the bridge on his broom, ready to catch me. I believe he got the idea from Peter Pan." Hermione smirked.

Ketch huffed and crossed his arms defensively.

“After that, we didn’t hear much at the Men of Letters. We had to rely on the information we received from Downing Street which was limited. We didn’t hear anything until two years later, when the Prime Minister was informed of the wizarding war. After that there was radio silence for another two years where the only message was that the war was over. When I didn’t hear anything from you... I thought you would have found me or given me _some_ kind of signal telling me you were alive after an ordeal like that. When I heard nothing, I had to assume the worst.” Ketch looked at her accusingly.

Hermione looked away. “I _did_ find you. I came to find you almost immediately after the final battle" she sighed heavily. “When you brought me with you on hunts when I was younger, we always agreed that even monsters deserved some sort of respect. They had to be put down, but it had to happen as fast and painlessly as possible.”

Dean looked at Ketch in surprise.

“When I found you, you had been hunting a vampire. She didn’t look much older than me. When I found you, you stood, covered in blood. You had cut her open and had your arm buried up to the elbow inside her chest cavity. She was still alive.” Her breathing hitched. “The worst thing was that you were enjoying it. You were alone, so there was no one to put on an act for. You did it because you wanted to. You weren’t Arthur anymore. You were just Mr. Ketch.” She looked at him sadly.

Ketch looked crestfallen. He seemed to struggle to find words, but in the end, he just nodded slightly to himself, staring into the table. “You’re right.” He said monotonously. “You’re right, I lost myself. I’m not going to lie to you, Hermione. I’ve done terrible things. Absolutely horrendous things. But I will try to do what ever I possibly can, to redeem myself.” He nodded again and looked at Hermione stoically. Hermione looked back at him and only nodded once. That seemed to be that. Stiff upper lip, indeed.

“Now, if you will excuse me – please do not leave without me, Dean. I would like to do a little show and tell to prove some of the things that have come to light.” Ketch turned and walked back to his room.

Everyone left in the library sat, trying to come to terms with the revelations in their own way.

Hermione got up and Sam stood. In three steps, he reached her and pulled her in to a crushing hug.

She stiffened slightly in shock, but she slowly melted into him, sobbing. He felt rather than saw Dean come up next to them, hugging both of them awkwardly. Sam opened one eye to see Gabriel still sitting in his chair, watching them with a soft smile, letting the three siblings share the moment alone.

After a few moments, Ketch returned with a folder which he laid on the table. It was very slim and when he opened it, Sam saw it only contained a single piece of paper and a USB-pen.

The paper was a birth certificate, and while they had just discussed it, seeing the evidence was strange.

Hermione Winchester

Mother: Susanna Walsh

Father: John Winchester

Sam picked it up, with shaking hands, studying it. It was the original and sure enough, it was their father’s signature.

Ketch put a hand on Hermione’s shoulder and put the USB-pen in her hand. “This is everything I have found so far, but there’s still a lot data that hasn’t been decrypted yet, so there might be more. I take it you’re still rubbish with computers?” He asked rhetorically. Hermione smiled sheepishly and he turned to Sam. “The data, all that I stole, I had downloaded into a black box of sorts. It survived the explosion You’ll find it here.” He gave Sam a slip of paper with an address. “Find what you can and give it to her.” He gestured at Hermione who had gone into Gabriel’s embrace, making Ketch frown.

Sam’s mouth twitched. “They’ve been together for years, you know.”

Ketch’s only response was a raised eyebrow and a snort.

“They’re good for each other is all I’m saying.” Sam smiled as they watched Gabriel whisper something in Hermione’s ear, making her blush and slap his chest.

“I suppose.” Ketch smiled ruefully “I’ve missed a lot, but I have only myself to blame.”

"So" Dean interrupted. "Are we going?"

Ketch nodded. "Yes. Just a single moment." He went over to Hermione, standing awkwardly next to her.

"I – err…" In response to his eloquence, Hermione hugged him.

"We'll be alright, Arthur." She sniffed.

"I hope so. I've missed you, button." Ketch kissed the top of her hair and squeezed her a bit tighter. "Have you kept up with your training." He asked her, pulling back a little to look at her. Upon seeing her sheepish expression, he huffed in disappointment. 

"You better hope I'm injured when I return. If not, I'm going to knock you on your arse." He warned her and turned to Dean. They finished the ritual to open the rift and went through.

They only had 24 hours to find Mary and Jack in a postapocalyptic world, ruled by an angelic dictatorship. The rest of the occupants of the bunker could only sit and wait.


	23. We all love nougat

There was an awkward silence after Dean and Arthur left as the three people left in the bunker stood around the rift. Hermione didn’t know what to do with herself. There was too much new information for her to go through and too many emotions to deal with, so in order to avoid the issue, she turned to other practical, but equally pressing matters.

“So. Are we really not going to talk about the fact that I broke out of prison today? No one’s curious at all?” She asked rhetorically.

Sam startled as if he had forgotten all about it. “Right! What were you even there for?”

“You’ve got wizards coming after you.” She told them darkly.

Sam frowned “But what do wizards want with us?”

“They want to wipe your mind. They want to remove everything pertaining to the supernatural,” she frowned.

Sam laughed with a hint of hysteria “But that’s our entire lives. What would even be left?”

“Probably a drooling mess,” she cautioned.

Sam frowned “Why do they even want to wipe our minds?”

Hermione sat down with a sigh. “As you know and as Arthur told you, the wizarding world is hidden in plain sight. The witch trials and the inquisition took a large toll on the population of witches and wizards. A lot of the witches that were burnt at the stake were the kind you’re dealing with. Dark witches and wizards who bargained for their power or gained it from cursed objects or spell books but there was also a large number of trueborns that were killed. Men, women and even children. Back then they weren’t as organised. There were covens, but they were rather exclusive and most of them relied on dark magic for protection.”

Sam sat down too, along with Gabriel who slung an arm around Hermione’s shoulder which she was grateful for. She had missed him and needed reassurance that he was really there.

“The witches and wizards realised that they needed to organise themselves better and protect their community as a whole, rather than in small groups. The Wizengamot was founded and along with representatives from countries all over the globe, the International Statute of Secrecy was put into effect. By law, it had become illegal to reveal witchcraft to muggles – or No-Maj’s as they’re called here in the States - That’s people without magic. Now, a lot of witches and wizards were unhappy with that decisions, particularly some of the covens. They felt like we should seize power and overthrow muggle governments and the church with our power, but there were simply too many muggles. They outnumbered witches and wizards by far and it wouldn’t last. So, the wizarding world separated itself and became a secret society of sorts.”

Sam nodded slowly “Okay, but what about people like you? My dad – uh, our dad I suppose, definitely didn’t have magic, and I don’t think your mom did. Are kids like you always uh taken away?”

“No,” Hermione shook her head sadly “No, that’s where it gets technical. You see, there are exceptions to the rule. Leaders of the muggle governments, intelligence services like MI6 or CIA and then immediate family to muggleborns. We ought to be able to use that to our advantage.” She pointed out and picked up the file with the birth certificate which was still lying on the table.

Sam smiled widely and leaned back in his chair. “Right – because we’re family”

“Yeah –“ she tapped the folder thoughtfully “- I just can’t help but think that the Statute was just used as a pretence.”

Gabriel frowned and squeezed her shoulder when she got lost in thought “Why?”

“They came on far too aggressively. And they kept me for a month. I know that they take the Statute more seriously here in America, but they didn’t have any actual evidence to hold over me. And while I don’t like to brag about it – I _am_ a bloody war hero. They could potentially get in _a lot_ of trouble with the British Ministry of Magic, and I can’t help but ask myself if a small case of violation of the Statute is really worth jeopardising international relations for.” She continued slowly.

“You think something else is going on” Gabriel continued rhetorically.

Sam shrugged “It could be us – we have a lot of enemies. Maybe someone found out about your connection to us and targeted you because of that.”

Hermione shook her head with a frown. “No, it felt personal against me too.”

“So, what do we do?” Gabriel tried. “I could probably put up some stronger wards, but I’m practically human right now. It'd probably take me a few weeks to recharge the batteries. I'm useless.” he sighed self-consciously and looked away from her.

Hermione turned to him and put a hand on his cheek, turning his head so she could look him in the eye. “You could be a muggle forever for all I care. You don’t seriously think I love you for your grace, do you?”

Gabriel scoffed. “It’s weird, okay. I can’t do anything. I mean, I've got some serious cravings, but I can’t create anything. Not even a damn cupcake.” He frowned.

Hermione shrugged “Neither can I,” she pointed out. “It’s one of Gamp's-"

“Laws of elemental transfiguration.” He finished for her. “I do listen to you, you know" he gave her a little smirk.

She smiled fondly at him and noticed Sam shuffling uncomfortably, slightly uncomfortable about being third wheel.

“It’s fine. I can set up my own wards,” she winked at both of them and headed out in the war room and down the halls “They haven’t failed me yet!”

She got started with the painstaking task of setting up more wards. She drew runes on all walls, focusing especially on the borders of the building. The garage door was given an extra heavy layer of protection. Her goal was to finish with the fidelius charm, but she wanted to wait until Dean and Arthur returned, hopefully with Mary and Jack. The last thing she wanted was to risk trapping them in the Apocalypse World because they couldn’t find the bunker. The warding took several hours, and she worked well into the evening, only stopping to eat. She had saved the front of the building till last because Sam hoped Castiel world return before they hid the entrance, but they couldn’t put it off anymore.

She opened the heavy door but was met with a disheartening vision. Chief Auror Ironwood himself stood in the light of the setting sun, with half a dozen Aurors fanned out behind him, all with their wands trained at her.

She was tempted to send a wandless stunner at him but she knew the others would put her down – possibly even kill her before he hit the ground and there was no way she would be able to take on all of them when they were spread out like that. Smart strategy.

“So. Ironwood – fancy seeing you here. How did you find me?”

The chief Auror smiled nastily at her. “Wouldn’t you like to know? Turn around, mudblood.”

“Ah. So, _there’s_ your stupid motivation.” She rolled her eyes but did as he said. She felt him grab her shoulder and shove the wand hard into her lower back.

“Shut up and get moving" he growled in her ear.

He shoved her onwards towards the door and she had no way other than to comply. She hastily put a plan together and just hoped it would work.

She shuffled slowly through the door but picked up the pace when she reached the stairs. Luckily, the guys were exactly where she hoped they would be. The Aurors weren’t aware of Gabriel and hopefully her plan would work, but she had to move faster with her spell craft than she ever had before. Casting several spells at once even.

Before Ironwood descended far enough down the stairs to be able to see properly into the bunker, she waved her hand almost imperceptibly. Her phone skidded out of her beaded bag, which was on the table in the library, along with the card from the Auror, Eric Everglade, who unsurprisingly wasn’t among the goons Ironwood had brought with him. She silenced Gabriel who was luckily still in the library and put a sticking charm on his feet. Then she put the strongest illusion and notice-me-not on the entire entrance to the library, effectively rendering it invisible, hiding both Gabriel and the rift that was still open. Sam was in the war-room, because just as she had predicted, he was curious about her wards and was coming towards her in order to check them out.

“Sam, run!” she yelled, even though she knew it was useless, but only calling out for Sam would hopefully cheat the Aurors into thinking that her and Sam were the only occupants.

Ironwood thrust the wand hard into her back, almost making her stumble and he caught Sam with a stunner before any of them had time to react.

They reached the bottom of the stairs and the other Aurors had followed them down.

“Search the rest of the place. See if you can find the other one" Ironwood ordered the others. He shoved her into a chair and conjured ropes, tying her to it.

“You’re wasting your time. He's out on a case.” She told him with a smirk. She wasn’t even lying, technically. She just hoped the enchantments on the library and Gabriel would hold until they were gone so he could organise their rescue.

“It’s empty boss. But we found a really freaky room with chains and stuff” one of the Aurors returned, looking slightly traumatised.

Ironwood raised an eyebrow “Well, miss Granger. I had heard muggles got up to some strange things, but I had never pegged _you_ for that type" he smirked lewdly at her, making her slightly nauseous. She could feel Gabriel struggling against her spells, but she tightened them.

“Let’s wrap it up people!” Ironwood yelled at the other Aurors who came back from around the bunker. They levitated Sam outside and Ironwood snapped manacles on her wrists before undoing the ropes. He pushed her up the stairs in the same manner he had pushed her down. Just before they closed the door, she lifted the enchantments. They portkeyed away before Gabriel had time to reach the door. Without his grace, he could only move by foot.

…

As soon as Gabriel had been released by the spell, he ran as fast as he could. He took the stairs two at a time, but when he slammed the door open, they were already gone.

“Dammit!” He yelled and hit the stone wall. He regretted that action immediately when the skin broke. He still had virtually no grace, so that shit hurt. And bled.

He remembered the phone that had appeared on the table and ran back inside only to find that it was already ringing.

“Hello?” He answered it.

“ _Shit"_ a male voice replied. “ _I- I need to speak to Hermione Granger. Is she there? Did I get the right number? It’s urgent!”_ the guy practically yelled.

“This is Gabriel. You got the right number, but she can’t answer the phone right now. Who are you?” he demanded, as he paced the library. He didn’t have time for this.

 _“I'm sorry, I’m Auror Eric Everglade. Wherever you are right now, you need to leave! NOW!”_ he urged.

Gabriel frowned and picked up the card that had slid out of the bag with the phone. The names matched.

He sighed. “I think you were too late, buddy. Your pals were already here. They took her and Sam Winchester. Hermione gave me your card, so I guess I was supposed to call you anyway.”

 _“Shit! My mom’s gonna kill me!”_ the Auror hissed to himself, making Gabriel raise an eyebrow. _“Listen – they found out I helped her escape. I have no idea how. They also found your location – again, I have no idea how. I went on the run, but we need to bust them out or else they’re done for. You said they took her and Sam. Where’s Dean?”_

“Uh, he’s indisposed at the moment” Gabriel told him, looking at the still open rift.

_“Keep him hidden! It’s imperative that you keep him hidden. If they don’t have him, they won’t do anything to the others because they need them for leverage. Where are you? We need to organise a rescue.”_

Gabriel debated whether to tell the guy, but Hermione had shown him the card for a reason. He had to be able to trust him.

“Um. Do you know a place called Lebanon in Kansas?” he asked the Auror hesitantly.

_“Lebanon? Yeah, that’s like 4 hours away from where my family lives.” Eric affirmed “Tell you what, give me till tomorrow morning to get everyone organised and I’ll come to you. I’ll bring the cavalry.”_

“Uh, I’d rather get going as soon as possible. Those two are family.”

 _“Listen. Sam is family to me too. I’ll explain later. But right now, we need to organise. We’re gonna need all the manpower we can get. We’re breaking into a secure magical government facility which is backed up by a full Auror Corps. They won't obliviate Sam and Hermione as long as they don’t have Dean. Send me your coordinates in a text. I'll see how many people I can gather. You should do the same.”_ The Auror encouraged and hung up.

Gabriel stood for a depressingly long time, wondering who he could even call. He looked through Hermione’s phone and found Harry’s name. He figured that the guy ought to know and he hoped that he could provide some magical backup, but he didn’t answer. The rest of her friends didn’t have cell phones, instead relying on owls and fireplaces and he had neither.

In reality he only had three people he could rely on in a situation like this. One of them was in another world and another one was one of the people he needed to rescue. He needed to give the Winchesters more credit. At least in his head. No need to get sappy.

He started searching the bunker. Somewhere, someone had to have left a cell phone with his baby brother’s number. With his grace he could have found him just by blinking. Not having it sucked major ass.

He had searched the bunker for hours without luck, when he heard the door to the bunker creak open. He grabbed one of the swords on display and hid behind a bookcase, ready to jump out and attack in case it was the wizards who had come back.

Just as he was about to attack with a fierce war cry, a familiar voice called out.

“Sam? Dean?”

Gabriel sighed in relief. “Cas!” He greeted without much ceremony as he stepped out from behind the bookcase. He threw the sword on the table with a loud ‘clang'.

His brother stood in the war room with the perpetual confused frown on his face. “Gabriel?” He asked. “Where are Sam and Dean?” Right down to business.

Gabriel sighed “Good to see you too, bro. Sam and my girlfriend were kidnapped, not long ago and your boyfriend’s in there.” He gestured vaguely at the library.

Castiel’s eyes widened when he saw the rift. “Dean is in the Apocalypse World _alone_?!” he demanded furiously.

“Easy there” Gabriel rolled his eyes “He went in there with some British dude called Arthur.” He waved him off. “Can we get back to the part where Sam and Hermione were kidnapped?”

“Arthur? Ketch? He went in there with _Arthur Ketch_ for backup?” Castiel practically growled.

“Yeah, that’s the one.” Gabriel shrugged, ignoring Castiel’s protests “But listen! We have another problem here. Sam and Hermione were taken. We can’t do anything for Dean and Arthur – They’re supposed to be back in about 9 hours. In about 8, we have some people coming to help with a rescue mission for Sam and Hermione.”

“What people?” Castiel frowned in even deeper confusion.

“I have no idea, honestly.” He admitted “Some dude called on Hermione’s phone. He said he was part of Sam’s family. He’s bringing backup and we’re gonna bust them out of a highly secure magical prison. You with me?”

Castiel closed his eyes in exasperation. “You invited an unknown number of people here, who you don’t even know?”

“I don’t know if you’ve noticed, Cassie, but I’m standing here, alone with no grace whatsoever – a first for me, by the way – with an open rift, a missing girlfriend and brother-in-law. You don’t get to judge me. I’ll take help wherever the hell I can get it!” Gabriel huffed.

Castiel blinked “Brother-in-law?”

“That’s a long story, buddy. Are you with me or not, dammit?” Gabriel begged.

His brother sighed and looked towards the rift. “Yes.” He agreed. “But we should wait for Dean to return. He will want to be a part of rescuing Sam.”

“Okay.” Gabriel conceded. Dean was probably good to have with them as well. He had to admit the guy had some skill. “The dude who’s coming knows what we’re up against. From what I understand it’s an ‘all hands on deck’-situation. Is there anyone else we can call?”

Castiel frowned. “Dean, Mary and Jack are all in there,” He gestured at the rift. “We could try Jody Mills, but I believe she is currently on a hunt in Montana. She probably won’t be able to make it here on time.”

Gabriel gave a humourless chuckle “Guess it’s just you and me then bro.” He smiled wryly and clapped Castiel on the shoulder. “You think they have any chocolate in this joint?” He asked rhetorically and walked towards the kitchen.

Cas followed “Does it matter if they do? Couldn’t you just make some?”

Gabriel scoffed “What part of ‘no grace’ don’t you understand, Cassie? You’d think you could relate.”

“Nothing at all?” Cas squinted at him.

He shrugged “I suppose there’s a little lying around here, but I told Sam to hide it from me. They’re gonna need it if they need to open another rift.”

Cas nodded thoughtfully “I could probably find it for you.” He offered.

“Thanks kiddo, but I think we should wait a bit. If your boy toy is going to be stuck in the Apocalypse, I don’t think it’s smart to give me the only key.” He smirked over his shoulder at the other angel.

They headed into the kitchen where Gabriel proceeded to raid the cabinets. “Aha! Nougat! I love nougat!” He exclaimed in delight when he found an entire shelf of the stuff.

He turned around to find Cas looking at him with a small smile. “What?”

“You said brother-in-law before. We have time before those other people arrive. Do you care to elaborate?” He requested.

Gabriel huffed and stuffed his pockets with candy bars before jogging back in the library. He threw himself into a chair and gave Castiel the folder with the birth certificate.

He heard Cas make a small gasp.

“There were four of them?” He whispered incredulously to himself and put the paper gently on the table “This is significant” Castiel told him seriously.

Gabriel snorted “You’re telling me. Now I have to deal with those bozos even more.”

“No, I – I need to go to heaven.” Castiel started to leave, but Gabriel grabbed his arm. “Whatever it is, it can wait ‘till _after_ we’ve saved them.” He had to insist.

Castiel shook himself out of whatever thought he had become obsessed with and looked at Gabriel, seemingly remembering something.

“You’ve been missing for a while.” He pointed out.

“Yeah, no kidding” Gabriel rolled his eyes and ripped open a chocolate bar.

Castiel sat next to him and looked at him carefully “Do you uh – want to tell me what happened?”

Gabriel lifted an unamused eyebrow at his brother but started telling him anyways as they waited for the cavalry.


	24. Narnia

They stepped through the rift into a snow-covered forest, nowhere near the place Dean had come through last. He had no idea where to even begin searching for Jack and his mom.

“Ah, well. Here we are.” Ketch interrupted his thoughts.

“Yeah…” Dean trailed off, trying to decide the best course of action. He had hoped this would be a simple grab-and-run.

Ketch huffed impatiently “You do know where we are, don’t you? Because we’ve only got 24 hours before the rift closes. I wasn't counting on having to search through _all_ of Narnia.”

“Yeah, yeah. Just give me a moment. This is… different than my last drop-by. Let’s get going till we find a reference point. Or hell, someone to ask for directions.” Dean grumbled, pulling on his backpack as they started to walk. “You still gonna bail?”

Ketch frowned and stopped to look him. “What are you insinuating exactly?”

”You were gonna go your merry way when we got through right? As you said, getting away from Asmodeus would be a smart move.” Dean shrugged.

Ketch rolled his eyes and started walking again. “I _was_ going to stay here afterwards, but I'll have you know that I always had plans of helping the boy and… your mother. She's in danger. I owe her that.”

Dean snorted. “She'll probably kill you. Again.”

“Yes, about that – do you think that we can avoid telling Hermione about my passing perhaps? My return to life was not exactly achieved with lightest of magic.” Ketch requested carefully.

Dean snorted “You used dark magic?”

Ketch huffed “As if you haven’t made deals with demons, witches and the actual devil. You haven’t a leg to stand on, Winchester”

Dean had to concede that point. They reached a bridge, which he tried to recognise. He hoped the lay of the land would be approximately the same as back home in their own world, but he couldn’t be sure without a map or someone more known to the area. As he stood, contemplating the bridge, he heard a sudden noise.

“Down, down, down!” He hissed at Ketch when he realised that a group of people were coming up on the bridge.

Charlie.

There was an angel kill squad and with them were three prisoners and one of them was Charlie. Two of the prisoners were killed but luckily, they decided to keep Charlie alive. He had to make sure she stayed that way.

…

Arthur Ketch was, in his own opinion, a quite simple man. He took orders and he fulfilled them without nonsense. The mission into the Apocalypse World had been simple – Get Mary, get the boy and get them out, but there they were, chasing some other girl that he quite frankly could care less about.

Dean was adamant that she was necessary in order to find out where they needed to go, but he was obviously more driven by a sentimental attachment to a girl who was no longer amongst the living in their own world – Perhaps they were intimate or perhaps Dean had a hand in her death and felt guilty? While Arthur could relate, he had learned the hard way, that compartmentalisation was the only way to get the job done – yet here they were, wasting time trying to locate this Charlie-person, despite not even having a trail to follow because the angels had bloody teleported away with her. Their best bet would be to find some poor sod, jump them and interrogate them, but Dean Winchester was stubborn as a mule and had the stealth of an elephant. It was likely to go the other way around and Dean would get them both killed, so Arthur did the smart thing and kept his distance. If Dean wanted to act like bait, Arthur was not one to stop him.

True to his predictions, Dean was ambushed. He was shot, which wasn’t the plan, but you can’t make an omelette without breaking a few eggs. C’est la vie.

He contemplated just letting the cretin take Dean and follow them without engaging in a fight, but unfortunately, he needed Dean on his side if he wanted a chance of not getting shot by Mary. Even with Dean’s support there was still 50/50 chance of death for him once he would meet Mrs Winchester again, so he couldn’t afford letting that small ticket to redemption slip away. Even if said ticket was an annoying, flannel-wearing sack of potatoes.

“You’re a strong one! Angels’ll pay double for you. Most of the slaves are scrawny” He heard the would-be abductor taunt as he tied Dean’s hands behind his back.

With a long-suffering sigh and an eye-roll, Arthur tackled the miscreant.

“Where were you going to take him? You do want to live, yes?” He inquired politely while holding the man down. Unfortunately, he was a bit stronger than Arthur had expected and managed to catch him off guard, turning the tables.

He was then held at knifepoint and saved by Dean Winchester like some damsel in distress. Disappointing, to say the least.

“You heard him – Where were you gonna take me?” Dean growled impatiently at the man. Understandable since he _had_ shot him in the shoulder.

The dirty bounty hunter sneered “You think I’m gonna tell you?”

Then Dean shot him in the leg and Arthur had to give it to him – he was becoming more and more ruthless. When the idiot had given them the location, Dean did the stupid thing though and only knocked him out. A headshot would have been appropriate, but Arthur didn’t want to start that argument. Hopefully he would stay unconscious and didn’t have a communications device he could use to give them up. Stealth truly was their best bet if they were all going to make it out alive.

…

Dean winced. Hitting that guy with an injured shoulder probably hadn’t been his best decision, but he’d be damned if let Ketch show him up. They needed to get moving. They had three people to save now instead of two. He wouldn’t let Charlie down, not again.

Ketch was going through the bounty-hunter’s bag. “That hunter may’ve been a bumpkin, but his weaponry is cutting edge. These, I don’t even recognise.”

Dean smirked a little. It felt good knowing something about tech that Ketch didn’t. “Yeah, that’s angel-killing bullets. Might wanna hang on to those.”

His small victory was short-lived though. Damn, that shoulder-wound stung like a bitch.

“You don’t look good.” Ketch pointed out with a frown.

“Yeah, well, you’re not my type either. I’m fine.” Dean shot back.

Ketch looked at him with – was that concern? Gross. “We’ll take a break. Your wound may be more serious than we thought.” He insisted.

“No, he barely hit me. Come on, we don’t have time for this.” And Dean didn’t want his whatever that was. He was being nice and it was weird. He didn’t like it.

“What was it with you and this Earthly ‘Charlie’ anyway? Old girlfriend? Let me guess – she broke your heart.” Ketch mocked. There was the smarmy bastard that Dean loved to hate.

But damn that shoulder. He’d been shot several times before, why the hell did it hurt so much this time? And why was he getting dizzy? Suddenly he found himself on the ground.

“Dean!” Ketch shouted, but he sounded far away. He felt the assassin put a hand on his forehead like a mom would and he wanted to slap it away but found that he didn’t have the strength to do it.

“Oh god, you’re burning up. Let’s take a look at that wound.” Ketch demanded, and Dean really didn’t feel like playing nurse with the asshat.

“No, no. I’m fine. We gotta keep moving.” He protested half-heartedly.

“Do shut up.” Ketch told him and ripped his shirt open.

Dean didn’t like the concerned frown Ketch was displaying. “How’s it look, mom?” He snarked.

Ketch started pulling stuff out of his backpack and mixing it on a rock like some boy scout, talking about toxins and poisons and stuff. The gist of it was that the Men of Letters were using poison to slow down and kill, and Ketch thought the hunter might have done the same. Using poison - that was just cheating. Then the bastard shoved the gunk into his bullet wound.

Dean winced. “Fine. You’re done playing doctor.” He slurred. “Can we get on with it now?”

Ketch rolled his eyes condescendingly. “By all means. If only so the antidote can be pumped through your system faster.”

He helped him up by his uninjured arm as if they were pals.

They walked on in silence, the only sound being the snow crunching beneath their feet. Dean was freezing his ass off, but they were on a tight schedule. They couldn’t afford any delays.

They walked for hours and Dean pushed himself to the limit and probably a little further than that. He needed to push through the night, especially because he was moving slower than usual. The hunter dude had said it was 4-5 hours walk to the POW-camp, but they had spent 7 so far.

In the end he collapsed. He tried to continue, and Ketch insisted they should rest, but he couldn’t let the bastard be right. Unfortunately, his body agreed with Ketch. Traitorous meatsuit.

“Perhaps we can use this moment to revisit the Charlie-issue?” Ketch requested and Dean felt like choking him. That British accent that had sounded cute on Hermione, made him want to barf when coming from Ketch.

“No.” He growled as a response from his place on the ground.

“Your point – your reason for killing yourself here is that we’re running out of time. So why are we chasing two rabbits? We risk not saving any of them. I propose we return home, regroup and reinforce ourselves – maybe even see if we can bring some backup. That way we might have a chance of saving everyone.” Ketch pointed out.

Dean sighed and rolled over. He shuffled a little to lean against a rock. “Look. Charlie isn’t gonna give the angels what they want. When they realise that, they’re gonna kill her, 100% sure, and I’m not –“

“ _Your_ Charlie might not talk but you don’t know _this_ Charlie. What’s the story? What aren’t you telling me?” he inquired.

It hurt and Dean didn’t want to, but he found himself telling Ketch anyway “Charlie was like family. She was like a sister to me. She did more for me and Sam than I can even begin to say, and she was butchered for it. We couldn’t get there in time to save her and I – “ He broke off.

“You feel like you failed her” Ketch finished.

“I know I did.” Dean sighed.

Ketch sighed tiredly “That, I understand.” He said, and Dean knew immediately who he was talking about – the other girl who was his _actual_ sister, something he felt conflicted by. He couldn’t help but compare the two. He had known Charlie longer; they had been through some rough shit together. They had so much in common and she was everything he could ever have wanted in a sister. But what was Hermione? She’d helped them with the Darkness, but they had never really gotten along. They constantly butted heads and the attraction he had felt towards her made everything so much worse. Even though the attraction was very much gone, he still hated the fact that she was with Gabriel. Before he had thought that Gabriel wasn’t good enough for her. Now that he knew that the girl was his sister, that sentiment increased tenfold. What bothered him most was that she was blood, but he still knew next to nothing about her.

He hesitated, but found himself asking anyway; “What happened to her?”

“Pardon?” Ketch asked, seemingly shaking himself out of his own memories.

“Hermione. What happened to her?”

Ketch frowned and looked down on the ground. Then he sighed and looked Dean directly in the eye. “First, you must ask yourself if you really truly _want_ to know.” The assassin implored, seriously

“I _need_ to know. Or else I’m just gonna go and drive myself crazy, thinking about it.” Dean shook his head.

Ketch stared off into the distance “Knowing isn’t quite beneficial for one’s sanity either.” He pointed out.

“Just tell me, Ketch.” Dean huffed impatiently.

Ketch creased his forehead in thought, seemingly unable to decide where to begin. “I separated the file with the experiments and their results from the rest of the data I managed to pull. That way your brother won’t stumble upon it accidentally.”

“Okay” Dean shrugged.

Ketch pulled a usb-drive out of a small hidden pocket in his tactical vest and reluctantly offered it to Dean. Just when Dean was about to grab it, Ketch drew his hand back.

“Can I trust you with this?” he asked, his eyes boring directly into Deans, looking for the slightest deceit. “Can I trust you not to use this against her? Not to use it against her kind? I know I’m a right bastard. I’m a back-stabbing double-crossing arsehole of a turncoat. But not to that girl. I need to know that you will protect her and her secrets. So, will you?”

Dean frowned. “I’m her brother, aren’t I?”

“You and I both know that while family isn’t necessarily blood, blood doesn’t necessarily mean family either.” Ketch smiled ruefully at him

Dean sighed. He thought hard about that and came to a realisation. “I want it to. I want her to be family. I mean, we don’t get along and we argue a lot, but most of the time it’s probably just arguing for the sake of the argument, y’know. I’m stubborn and she is _not_ one to back down”

Ketch snorted softly “No, she always was slightly aggravating in that way, but that’s mostly a good thing. So – can I trust you with this?”

“Yeah,” Dean nodded and reached out his hand. “Yeah, you can.”

Ketch gave him the small usb-drive. “Don’t look at the video-files.” He cautioned and Dean frowned.

“Can you tell me some of it?” he requested as he stuffed the small thing in one of his inner pockets.

Ketch sighed and stayed silent for a long time. Just as Dean was sure that the guy would stay quiet, he started. “The powers Hermione has, was a curiosity to the Men of Letters. At first, they were assumed to be some sort of high-powered telekinesis. However, when they discovered it was more than that, they wanted to understand that power, but more than that, they wanted to find its weakness. They wanted to find out how to take down magic-users most efficiently and if the magic would act in defence subconsciously.

Dean frowned “How'd they do that?”

Ketch rubbed his face tiredly “They would expose her to different kinds of trauma and observe how the magic reacted. First while she was fully anaesthetised, then under weaker sedation and then while she was fully conscious.”

Dean felt himself getting angrier and angrier. “What kind of trauma?” he growled “And remind me again, why you didn’t just take her and run.”

“Many of these experiments were conducted before I met her. I didn’t even know the full extent of them until recently. They burned her, broke her bones, cut her, poisoned her, electrocuted her, beat her. In between, they would observe her healing capabilities. I’m actually quite cross with your Jody Mills for killing Dr Hess. I had several delightful accidents planned for her here in the States. She doesn’t travel often so this was a prime opportunity. She was the one who sanctioned it all.” Ketch huffed in irritation. “I suppose I should be happy she’s gone, but I had hoped to see her suffer a little.

Dean closed his eyes and tried to get his breathing under control. He knew humans were messed up. It had been confirmed to him time and again. Monsters he understood, they killed – most of the time in order to survive. But this? This was pointless. It was evil in a way that was beyond any kind of thing he had ever fought. And they had done it to a little girl. Not just any little girl either.

His baby sister. Yep. She was definitely his sister.

“Are all of them dead? The ones that were a part of this?” He ground out.

Ketch sighed and hung his head in shame “No. That’s just one of the places where I’ve failed. Two are at the bottom of the Atlantic, some are spread around in various ditches. One of them, I threw into a wood-chipper while he was still alive, which was most satisfying.” He paused, seemingly getting lost in a good memory, but then his expression darkened again. “Some still have a pulse though. But I don’t just want them to die. I want to tear down that entire organisation. Especially now that I know that she’s alive. I have a lot of sins to atone for and I have a lot of things to apologise for. Hess should have died a long time ago, but I let her live. I’ve killed in the name of self-preservation and sacrificed friendships. It’s time to redeem myself now though. I’ve left the Men of Letters, I’ve left Asmodeus to help you, even though it doomed me. And now it’s time to kill the rest of those bastards.”

Dean nodded. “Well, I’m in. So, let’s get going. We’ve got people to save and things to hunt.”

“Are you sure you’re ready?” Ketch looked at him sceptically.

“Shut up. I’m fine.” Dean rolled his eyes.

Ketch shrugged and stood. “If you say so” he accepted and helped Dean up.

“This doesn’t make us friends or anything like that” Dean sneered.

Ketch smirked “Well, the enemy of my enemy _is_ my friend. But I believe that I can accept that that is the extent of this relationship.” He quipped.

“Whatever. Let’s just get going.”

And that they did.

…

When they reached the camp, Dean wanted to storm the place, right away, but Arthur stopped him. It was still dark, and they had no idea of the layout or the number of hostiles. Going in blind was a fool’s errand.

“Charlie is in there _right now_ ” Dean hissed as they crouched behind the bush Arthur had pulled him down at. “They might kill her at any time”

Arthur had to concede that hearing the girl’s screams was disconcerting, but it was too high a risk.

“They won’t kill her right away.” He argued. “She’s supposedly high in this resistance. They’ll want to kill her with an audience. She’d make a good example.”

Even though he couldn’t see it in the dark, he could practically feel the other man’s scowl at him.

“This is supposedly a POW camp, which means there are other prisoners here, who are going to have a grudge against the angels as much as we do. If we wait until they’re awake, we can use them as allies if not a distraction. We also have a chance of saving more lives – that’s what you Winchesters are all about after all, isn’t it?” he pointed out.

Dean huffed “Fine. But if she dies, I’m blaming you. And there ain’t noting that can stop me from ripping your heart out.” He growled.

Arthur rolled his eyes “If you must.” The level of drama was unbelievable.

It took the several hours and a lot of arguments to make a plan. It was a horrid plan, but at least they had one.

Around dawn, the screaming stopped. Angels came out into the courtyard, herding people in various conditions. Some looked relatively fine if a little bruised, some were limping, and others looked ready to keel over. All wore the same expression of utter desolation.

A stake was raised in the middle of a scorched spot on the ground. Obviously, this wasn’t the first execution the place had seen. Some of the prisoners were forced to build a pyre around it. When a man was dragging his feet, he was killed immediately by a completely expressionless angel. Arthur wondered if he sometimes looked like that and realised that he probably did. Because Hermione was right. He might be Arthur in his own head, but in reality, did he truly have the right to call himself that? He wanted to redeem himself, but was it even possible? He had become Mr Ketch through and through. Killing both monsters, humans and friends in the name of self-preservation.

“There" he whispered to Dean, when they dragged the young woman from another building. She was tied roughly to the stake and the angels started a sort of speech, probably listing her crimes. This was their cue. Arthur counted down from three and they attacked in perfect synchronisation.

Dean launched three well placed smoke grenades over the fence while Arthur hung back with his rifle, taking out angels with the fancy bullets providing cover for Dean who climbed the fence like a bloody monkey. Next, Arthur discarded the rifle in favour of two handguns and ran to the fence, planting a proper grenade in it. The following explosion created an escape route for all of them. He ran through it and took out the angels guarding the prisoners while Dean went to cut Charlie down from the pyre.

“Run!” Arthur yelled at the now liberated prisoners and they didn’t have to be told twice. He was relieved to see some of the stronger ones, help the ones who had trouble walking.

Soon, more angels arrived as backup and Arthur had trouble keeping up.

“Dean!” he roared “No pressure, but now would be a good time to take our leave!”

...

He should have expected it, but it was hard, when Charlie didn't recognise him and even looked at him with distrust.

“Who the hell are you?” She yelled over the sound of the mayhem Ketch was creating.

He faltered slightly, but recovered fast “Doesn't matter. We need to go, now! Unless you wanna be barbecue.”

“Yeah, probably not" she shrugged and shook her head in a pure Charlie-like fashion that made him smile.

He cut her loose quickly and turned around to see more angels arriving. They needed to get back to the rift, but he realised that with all the delays, they would never make it back in time. Ketch yelled at him and he looked around trying to find a solution to their problem.

“Ketch!” he yelled and pointed to a jeep standing behind one of the buildings. He pulled Charlie with him and pushed her into the back seat. Luckily for them, the keys were in the ignition. Ketch came running towards them, turning around every so often to shoot angels. He threw himself into the passenger seat.

“Drive!” he yelled.

Dean didn't need to be told that twice. They raced towards the hole in the fence Ketch had created. It wasn’t quite big enough and they all ducked instinctually when they ripped into the fence. Luckily it gave easily and they sped back towards the rift the way they had come.

They didn’t talk much as angels were on their tail and Ketch leaned out of the window to answer the fire, they were under.

“I’ve run out of ammunition.” He announced eventually.

“Doesn’t matter. We're almost at the rift.” Dean responded. They arrived at the spot and just as the rift came into his field of vision, the world was turned upside down, when the jeep was hit by an explosion.

The car flipped, once, twice, three times. Luckily, Dean wasn’t hurt too badly and he scrambled out of the car. He heard Ketch grunting and ran to him. He didn’t look too banged up, but one of his legs was under the car. He grabbed him by the arms and started pulling.

“No, Dean. I'm stuck – we don’t have time. See if you can get the girl out.” Ketch ground out

Dean frowned “What? No, I’m not leaving you behind.”

“You have no choice. The rift is closing” Ketch pointed out and he was right. The rift was getting smaller.

Dean ran around the car to find Charlie unconscious. He couldn’t get the door open to get her out.

“Run, Dean!” Ketch roared as angels started to arrive around them. “Go, now! If you stay, we're _all_ dead, if you go you have a chance of returning with reinforcements. GO!” he urged.

Dean stood for a second, unable to decide. Then he ran like hell towards the rift which was getting so small it was almost disappearing. He jumped through at the last possible second.

...

When he returned, it was to a very different sight than he had expected. At first, he was nervous that maybe he had been transported to a whole new world by accident, one where the Men of Letters in America wasn’t defunct and that was the explanation to the many people hanging around in the bunker but then he saw Gabriel standing in front of him, looking apologetic.

“What. Did. You. Do?” he growled at the archangel and grabbed him by the front of his shirt.

“He-hey, Dean-o boy. Um. Meet the Campbells?” Gabriel shrugged with a grimace.

Castiel turned the corner to the library with an exasperated sigh. He put a hand to Dean’s forehead, healing the wounds and scratches he had sustained in the car crash he had been in not 5 minutes previously.

“We need to go. It’s Sam. And Hermione.” He told Dean tiredly.

“Where’s Arthur?” Gabriel frowned at Dean.

“One thing at a time” Dean grumbled and strode towards the kitchen, passing several strangers on the way. He couldn’t have any serious conversation without having a beer first.

“Now what the hell is going on?” He asked and turned around with the bottle he had just pulled out of the fridge. One of the strangers had followed him, Gabriel and Castiel into the kitchen. “And who the hell are you?”

The newcomer looked at him uncomfortably. “I- I’m Eric. Everglade. Eric Everglade. I’m Alice Campbell’s son.”

Dean pulled a gun at him. He really didn’t have the patience for any kind of bullshit. “I’m not really on good terms with my mom’s side of the family. Give me one good reason why I shouldn’t just put a bullet in you.”

Eric’s eyes widened and he raised both hands defensively “Because we need to get your brother and Hermione back? And you can’t do it without me because none of you are wizards?”

Dean looked at Cas who nodded apologetically. “It would be best to keep him alive.”

Dean lowered the gun and the guy looked like he was ready to shit himself.

“Tell me what happened” He demanded.


	25. Nuclear

Hermione sat, looking utterly unimpressed with the man in front of her. Sam sat next to her with a matching bitchface. Both were bound to the steel chairs they were sitting on in the same interrogation room Hermione had been in when she had been arrested the first time.

“So, Mr Ironwood. Here we are again" Hermione greeted with an eyeroll.

“That’s _Chief Auror_ Ironwood” the older man ground out

Hermione snorted “I'll call you that when you stop being an embarrassment to the American Auror-corps. So, I wouldn’t hold out too much hope if I were you. You’re lucky I called you Mr. Ironwood, you know. I've called you several other names in my head already.”

Sam smirked a little. The witch was fearless and sometimes had a habit of running her mouth and provoking adversaries in the worst situations, much like the older brother they apparently had in common. He wondered now if it was something she had inherited or if it was Gabriel’s influence. It was a trait that had often earned Dean a smack-down and sure enough, the heavy sound of a slap filled the interrogation room they found themselves in as Ironwood backhanded her.

The hit was enough to whip Hermione’s head to the side, but her only reaction when she turned it back around to look at the man was a slight nose wrinkle.

“Well, that was rude.” She remarked.

Ironwood turned to Sam with a sneer “Where’s your brother, _no-maj_?”

Sam shrugged “I honestly have no idea.”

“What do you need him for, Ironwood?” Hermione asked exasperatedly, and Sam was afraid she would earn herself another slap, but the creepy guy just smiled at her nastily.

“I believe we already established that at your last visit, _mudblood_. The memory charm.” He spat.

Hermione nodded thoughtfully “Well, there’s been some development since then. You see, you’re not allowed to erase their memories since they are immediate relatives of a magical person.” She smirked and leaned back in her chair in slight triumph.

Ironwood narrowed his eyes at her in disgust “Don’t tell me you _married_ one of those pea-brained lumberjacks. I knew you were basically a no-maj, but even _you_ ought to have some standards.”

“Goodness no.” Hermione exclaimed, a little green around the gills. “Not that there would be anything wrong with marrying a muggle, but Sam and Dean are my brothers.” She defended.

“It’s true.” Sam added with a shrug.

Ironwood looked at them with a raised eyebrow and Hermione rolled her eyes.

“Just do the genesis charm, Ironwood.” She requested exasperatedly, hoping for several reasons that Arthur was right about the familial match between her and the Winchester-boys.

Ironwood only stood, staring at them and grinding his teeth.

“You do know how to perform the genesis charm, right?” Hermione asked rhetorically. “I mean, the muggles have been using genetics in law enforcement since what, the 80’s?” She looked at Sam for confirmation.

“Yup.” He answered, popping the ‘p'. His fascination with serial killers made him confident of that.

“So, with the Wizarding World being as amazing and forward thinking as it is, we should have been using those principles for decades before, right?” She continued with mock innocence.

“It’s of no import. There are other issues with the Winchesters. Whatever family you are to each other means nothing.” Ironwood spat.

“Yeah? What issues?” Hermione challenged.

“Amongst others, they are rumoured to be in possession of some very powerful spell books that no-majs have no business being around.” The older wizard ground out.

Sam frowned and Hermione narrowed her eyes in suspicion “And where might you have heard that rumour?” She leaned forward towards the man and whispered conspiratorially “Does this perhaps have anything to do with the reason why Rowena McLeod is still roaming free?”

The man’s face reddened which was very telling, but before he could incriminate himself further, he turned and left the room, slamming the door behind him.

“Wait, Rowena?” Sam questioned. “Like Crowley’s mom Rowena?”

Hermione nodded. “She’s committed numerous crimes against both muggles and wizards and she hasn’t exactly been subtle about it. Since she’s committing crimes on American soil, it’s the American Auror’s jurisdiction, which means she’s _his_ responsibility.”

“Well yeah, but I mean, she’s pretty powerful. She’s probably not so easy to catch.” Sam pointed out, not really wanting to defend the douche, but Rowena was a powerful player and shouldn’t be underestimated.

Hermione shrugged “Perhaps, but that only means that they should make even more effort. I wrote to them a few years ago when I heard of some mysterious deaths that had her name written all over it, but she was never on the wanted list.”

Sam was quiet for a while. “We've worked with her a couple of times since Amara, y'know.”

“By Nimue's nether parts – what on earth would possess you to do that?” Hermione snapped.

He sighed heavily and slumped in his chair “We needed her help to track Lucifer. And then to send him back in the cage.”

“Why didn't you come for Gabe and me?” She asked incredulously.

Sam huffed “Look – we didn’t know you very well at the time and we had worked with Rowena before. She had the Book of the Damned and besides, you and Gabriel had just left. You didn’t even say goodbye.” He defended.

“But she’s a _dark witch_ , Sam.” She pointed out, talking slowly as if he was 3 years old. “She’s not supposed to have that book either. It’s too dangerous in hands like hers. I still want to destroy it. Do you have it?” she whispered

“Um, yeah. But it’s hidden.” He told her lowly.

Hermione nodded “Do not under any circumstances tell them where it is. Don’t accept anything to drink from them and if you start to feel happy and lightheaded, fight it. Be on guard.”

Sam snorted “I’m in a _magical prison,_ Hermione. Even for me, that’s a first. My guard isn’t going down any time soon.”

“Technically we’re not in prison. At least not yet, this is just an interrogation room. We’re still at MACUSA.” She shrugged. “Magical Congress of the United States of America” She added when Sam looked confused.

...

“So, let me get this straight. Hermione was in prison, but it was _us_ they were after?” Dean asked the wizard sceptically.

Eric shrugged, but looked thoughtful as he paced the kitchen floor “I was given orders but I’m not sure. I don’t think I’ve got all the information. Obliviating you guys to protect the Statute of secrecy is one thing, but they wouldn’t need to bring you in for that. And even so, it seems counterproductive. A lot of the things you deal with on a daily basis could put the Wizarding World on the spot. You hunters deal with the supernatural before it draws too much attention. Besides, if it’s about knowledge of the supernatural, why just send out a warrant just for the two of you? We have an entire clan out there who are more or less in the know about supernatural beings and there hasn’t been talk of bringing in any other hunters than the two of you. I know that you’re legends in the trade, but other than that, what threat do you bring to the Wizarding World that the other hunters do not?” he mused and stopped to lean against a kitchen counter.

Dean frowned. “Could it be that we’re working with angels?” He asked, pointing at Castiel and Gabriel.

Eric waved him off “Wizards don’t care about angels. No offence you guys.” He added when the two celestial beings both crossed their arms defensively. “It’s a pagan thing.” He shrugged.

Castiel tilted his head in thought. “That might be to our advantage. They won’t expect us to –“

“To what, Castiel? If you haven’t noticed, I’m outta juice and your wings are fried.” Gabriel interrupted with a sniff.

Castiel huffed and rolled his eyes “There are other ways of fighting.”

Dean frowned in thought. “What if you had some? Juice, that is.” He asked Gabriel

“Whatever we could get would help our odds, but don’t you need it for your next trip? Don’t think I haven’t noticed you came back alone. Hermione would flay me alive if I’m the reason Jack isn’t coming back. Not to mention that Arthur-dude you went in there with. And we all know that flaying me would take a while since I’m fucking immortal.” Gabriel winced.

Dean snorted “Are you afraid of her?”

“Are you kidding me? You have met my girlfriend, yes? She puts fucking Kali to shame with her temper. And don’t think she’ll let you off the hook just because you’re her brother either.” Gabriel pointed out.

Dean rubbed the right side of his face “Yeah. I’m aware. But to be fair, we didn’t know that she was my sister the last time she kicked my ass.” He groused.

“Wait, is she your sister?” Eric asked incredulously “Then there shouldn’t be a problem. They would have to let them go because you’re too closely related to defend an obliviation" he frowned in thought “That should be easy enough to prove though. All they would have to do is tell the Aurors and they would be able to prove it with a charm in seconds. They wouldn’t even need to bring them in… The more I know, the more I get the feeling that this is personal at some level. I gotta ask, did any of you have any issues with the wizarding world? Did you ever come across a case with a natural born witch or wizard? Did you kill one or did you deal with one or something?” He asked Dean curiously.

Dean blinked. “Um. Maybe? We’re sometimes working with a witch, but it’s kinda like an on/off relationship based on mutual hate.” He shrugged.

“And she’s natural born?” Eric wanted to confirm

Dean frowned in thought “I think so. But she’s like ancient. Not that she looks like it.”

Eric nodded. “Would she have any reason to target you?” he asked, in full investigative mode.

“Son of a bitch.” Dean grumbled and walked out of the kitchen with quick strides towards the library.

Eric raised an eyebrow and followed along with the rest “I'll take that as a yes.”

“Everybody out!” Dean barked at the two Campbell family members who had invaded one of his favourite rooms in the bunker. One of them were even sitting in his chair.

Their eyes widened and they hurried out. He realised that maybe he was coming on a little too strong, but this was his home, dammit. The only one he’d had since he was four years old and he hated sharing.

He started rifling through drawers, moving papers and oddities around to get to the fake bottom which he removed, revealing two spell books. “The Book of the Damned and The Black Grimoire.” Gabriel came up behind him.

“Do you mean to tell me, that not only did you two dingleberries keep that disgusting biohazardous piece of trash – you actually _added_ to your collection?” he asked incredulously.

“Shut up. Those books saved us on more than one occasion.” He pulled the books out and put them down on the nearest table.

“Are those, what I think they are?” Eric whispered apprehensively.

“If you mean dangerous, disgusting and unsanitary, then yes.” Gabriel snarked.

Castiel huffed “That may be so, but Dean is right. They have been helpful.”

“Helpful?” Eric chuckled hysterically “Nuclear weapons are ‘helpful’ too,” he made an air-quote “-and you seem to have them lying around casually. I don’t think you realise exactly how much damage these things can do. How much power they hold in the wrong hands.”

Dean rolled his eyes “Well, they’re not in the wrong hands.”

Eric pursed his lips. “Are you sure about that? If the only way to get your brother back is to give away those books, would you not give them up? Your history says otherwise.”

Dean frowned and put the books in a duffel bag that was still lying in the library from before he went through the rift. “Let’s just get this show on the road. How’re we gonna do this?”

…

Hermione had dozed off and was startled when the door slammed open. Ironwood had returned with one of his minions, a young mean looking kid who looked like he was fresh out of school.

“Seriously?” She sighed and looked at Sam who still sat at her left side.

Ironwood smiled genially at them and Hermione was immediately on edge.

“Yes, I decided that it would be better with some assistance. Certain… interrogation techniques work better in pairs. So, have you decided to make things easy and tell me where Dean Winchester is, or do we have to do this the hard way? Please say you want to do it the hard way.” He winked at Hermione.

“Piss off.” She scoffed.

“I was hoping you would say that.” Ironwood purred “Griffins, would you like to do the honours?” he requested.

The young Auror stepped closer with his wand pointed at Hermione who scowled at him.

“Bring it on, kid” she challenged.

And he brought it. “Crucio!” He yelled and Hermione arched in her chair as much as her restraints let her. She refused to scream out loud and grit her teeth. It had been a while since she had been under the torture curse, but she remembered it well. She didn’t talk then, and she had no intention of talking now.

“No!” Sam exclaimed, startled by the suddenness of the torture.

Griffins let up the curse and Hermione’s breath came out in small gasps. The Auror looked slightly out of breath too.

“Where is Dean Winchester?” Ironwood asked again. Hermione shook her head and sent Sam a small smirk to let him know she was okay.

The men waited for either Sam or Hermione to answer, but when no answers came, Griffins cast the spell again.

“Crucio!”

This time he held it longer and a small cry escaped Hermione’s throat. It felt like her blood had been replaced by liquid fire and it was being pumped rapidly through her system. The young guy who was casting the spell, was gripping his wand so hard that his knuckles turned white. When he broke it off, they were both panting heavily. Hermione rolled her shoulders, annoyed by the residual pain.

“How about you, young man? Care to tell me where your brother is? I wonder, which one means more to you? Him or this girl, claiming to be your sister, hm?” He mused, looking at Sam.

Sam narrowed his eyes at the man, took a deep breath and spat him directly in the face. Hermione smirked in approval.

Ironwood recoiled and wiped his face with his hand “You piece of shit” He growled and punched Sam in the nose. “Griffins!” he barked and pointed at Hermione.

“Crucio!” Griffins screamed and Hermione was hit a third time. This time she couldn’t help but scream when her veins were filled with fire.

“Stop!” Sam yelled. His nose was bleeding, dripping onto the metal table.

Griffins broke the curse, but kept the wand trained on Hermione.

“Don’t tell them, Sam. It’s fine. I can take it.” She tried to reassure him.

Ironwood tapped his chin in contemplation. “I suppose you can. I had read you had withstood torture during the war.” He admitted.

The _interview_ was interrupted by a gentle knocking on the door. Ironwood huffed but turned around to open it.

Hermione sneered when she saw the red hair and the glittery black gown.

“Rowena” she growled, still slightly out of breath and sweating from the last round of torture.

“Hermione dear and Sammy, my boy” the other witch smiled saccharinely as she regally entered the interrogation room. She gestured for Griffins to leave which he did without so much as looking at Ironwood who was supposedly his superior.

“Rowena. What do you want?” Sam asked through clenched teeth.

“Why, you disappoint me, Sammy. I thought we were over this, but then you go and steal my books. That just won’t do, boy. We agreed that I would help you and in turn I would keep the books. You didn’t hold up your end of the bargain. So, I had to enlist the help of sweet Phallus here.” She smirked and caressed Ironwood on the chest. The Auror looked thoroughly pleased with himself.

Hermione giggled hysterically. “Seriously? Your name is Phallus? Ironwood? Phallus Ironwood?”

Sam snorted and Hermione broke into raucous laughter despite the serious situation they found themselves in.

“Enough. Where are the books, and where is your brother?” Rowena sneered at Sam.

“Bite me.” He replied with a slightly mocking smirk.

Rowena sighed “Phallus, can you –“ she started, but was interrupted when the door exploded.

…

Eric sighed. “We need to be careful. Politically, this can turn into a nightmare of apocalyptic proportions.”

Dean shrugged. Well, he would know about apocalyptic proportions. How many had the knucklehead caused again?

“The relationship between the wizards and the no-maj is extremely delicate and always has been – especially here in the States after the Salem Witch Trials. One wrong step in this and we risk another wizarding war.” Eric continued.

“So, how do we avoid that?” Dean asked “We kinda have a lot on our plate as it is, we don’t need to add to it. Hell, if we could have more wizards as allies, it would help us against the other fuckers we’re dealing with.”

Gabriel almost stumbled in surprise. That was one helluva change of heart. He stared wide-eyed at Dean who rolled his eyes and crossed his arms over his chest. Gabriel winked at him.

“That reminds me, does anyone have any way of contacting Harry Potter? He’s supposedly Hermione’s best friend, and he has a lot of pull, both with resources and political influence.” Eric requested.

Gabriel sighed. “Yeah, I tried reaching him, but no answer.”

“We _need_ him. I’m planning on trying to sneak in, but we also have to be realistic. We’ll be going in, in broad daylight on a weekday. The place is going to be packed. I think it’s best if the family will establish a perimeter and we’ll raise some anti-apparition wards – so they can’t teleport out" he added when Dean looked confused “- then if they try to make a run for it with either Sam or Hermione, the family will be ready to catch them. And they won’t expect no-majs. We’ll go in with a small team – I’m thinking us four. I've brought some spare wands you can use for when we go through registration. Fooling the system is easy enough. Then we’ll go to the holding cells and we’ll have to improvise from there.” Eric shrugged “But we need Harry Potter to back us up in the aftermath. We need him to tell the public about the corruption amongst the American Aurors to justify our actions. They’ll listen to him without question.” He added.

Gabriel snorted, having seen the sway the saviour held over his own friends even. “They’ll follow like lemmings.”

“But if this Harry dude holds that much sway, why don’t we just get him to tell them to let them go?” Dean asked with a frown. He leaned against the table, looking dead on his feet. Gabriel wondered when the dude had slept last.

“I don’t know if we have that much time. I suspect that Ironwood has gone completely rogue and if I’m right, odds are that they haven’t even logged Sam and Hermione properly. And we don’t know what they’re doing to them in the meantime. If Ironwood is rogue, it could be anything. Even Unforgivables.” He looked at the others gravely. “Let’s go brief the others.”

Gabriel was happy to hang back to watch the briefing while going through the contacts on Hermione’s phone. He tried reaching Harry again, but no dice. He frowned at the phone and decided to go topside for some fresh air.

Screw it, he couldn’t wait around for Harry to pick up. He tried the next best thing.

He paced outside the bunker entrance while listening to the dial tone as he waited for the other person to pick up.

 _“You’ll be my maid of honour, right?”_ The person greeted.

“Uh… Sure?” He agreed. Whatever the hell he had to do to get some backup.

_“Wait… Gabriel? Where’s Hermione?”_

“That’s actually why I’m calling. I’ll get straight to the point – Hermione and one of her brothers have been arrested by some corrupt wizard-cops who want to delete the memory of her and her brothers-“

_“Brothers?!”_

“I just told you she was arrested by corrupt cops and _that’s_ what you choose to focus on? Anyway – it’s a new development.”

_“Sorry. Continue.”_

Gabriel cleared his throat “Right, anyway. We think she’s being held at that MACUSA-place. We have another wizard-cop who’s gonna help us bust them out. You in?”

_“Uh, sure – You want me to bring in the DA?”_

“Oh, right. Your little militia. Sure, why the hell not. I should warn you though, we’re trying to go for sneaky and no offence, but you lot are rarely subtle.”

Ginny snorted _“I’ll have you know that Neville, Luna and I led that underground army through an entire year in close quarters with the enemy. The only reason you think I can’t be sneaky is because I’m THAT good at it.”_ Gabriel could practically hear the smirk.

“I hear ya.”

_“But there’s a time to be sneaky and a time for trouble. Do you want direct back-up, or do you want a diversion?”_

Gabriel grinned “What did you have in mind?”

Ginny laughed _“I’m sure I could figure something out”_

“I need your boy-toy too though.”

_“Get in line. I’ve tried reaching him for ages.”_

“Be careful, Red. These dirty wizard-cops, I don’t know how far up it goes of if it’s isolated to the States.”

She sighed _“You know what? I’m going to leave Harry a note and then I’ll get some people and we’ll come to fuck shit up across the pond. Harry can join us when he’s done with whatever he’s doing.”_

“Yeah. Just. Maybe – I’m gonna hate myself for saying this – but maybe you should cue your brother in on what’s with Harry? Maybe he could figure out a way to get to him?”

_“Deal. Text me when you want shit to go down.”_

She hung up and he smirked fondly at the phone. He liked Ginny Weasley.

He heard leaves being crushed by boots behind him and turned around to come face to face with Dean.

“Here” The hunter opened his palm which held a small vial of grace.

“It that – are you sure?” He asked sceptically. Why he was so polite about it, he didn’t know. He ought to just chug the damn thing and be done with it – it was _his_ grace for Pete’s sake. But a voice that sounded suspiciously like Hermione told him to be cool about it. Damn conscience.

“Yeah. It’s probably not enough to get you to top speed, but we need you man.” Dean admitted with a shrug.

Gabriel nodded slowly. “Well, bottoms up”

He reabsorbed his grace and instantly felt more powerful. Dean was right, he definitely wasn’t in peak condition. His wings felt heavy and he probably couldn’t fly, but he was ready to smite some ass.


	26. The Great Walrus

Dean was taking stock of everything they needed for the rescue mission, which ended up being most of their arsenal. He had been given a rough description of the place they were infiltrating, and he was mentally reviewing what weapons would be best to use in each scenario. The… robes that he'd been given were slung over one of the chairs next to him. He had no idea why anyone would want to wear those things voluntarily. The only thing he could think of was how all that excessive amount of fabric could snag on something or be pulled or grabbed in a fight. But then again, he got the feeling that those wizard-dudes didn’t get into many physical fights, relying more on those magic sticks of theirs. He planned on ditching the dress as soon as possible.

“Dean?” a hesitant voice said to his left. He turned around, somewhat startled that someone had managed to sneak up on him.

She was blonde with somewhat curly hair which was tied up in a bun. She had green eyes that were framed by light wrinkles.

“Uh, yeah?” He frowned at the woman who had managed to get the drop on him. No one other than Cas and maybe the kid had managed to do that in years, but he could blame that on the angel mojo.

“You probably don’t remember me, but I’m Alice Campbell. I’m a second cousin to your mom.” She smiled gently at him.

“No offence, lady, but I ain’t exactly a fan of the Campbells.” He tried not to sneer out of politeness but turned back to his inventory.

She chuckled “No, I’d heard you tangled with Samuel and his lot some years ago. I’ll tell you that none of us you see here had anything to do with that crazy bastard. Your mom and I were friends back in the day. Haven’t seen you since you were three years old though. You and Eric got on well back then too. He’s half a year older than you but you probably won’t remember.”

Dean was startled. He’d had no idea that his mom even had contact with any of her family.

“We were all thick as thieves back then” she sighed, continuing as if she was reading Dean’s mind. “We stopped seeing Mary and John when Eric started displaying accidental magic. Hell, we almost didn’t see anyone for years until he got it under control. I don’t think I have to tell you that bringing a five-year-old who makes the lights flicker when he’s angry to a family gathering full of hunters is a bad idea.”

Dean gave a chuckle. “No, I can’t imagine it is.” He thought for a moment how it would have been if Hermione had been with them. Would his father have understood? Probably not. He would have tried exorcising her and put her through all sorts of horrors to find out what caused her abilities. And as soon as he would have heard the word witch, would he accept it, or would he have put a bullet in his daughter?

He felt slightly nauseous that he actually didn’t know. But was he that much better? Hadn’t he threatened to kill Jack?

Alice smiled at him and gave his arm a squeeze. “Last I saw her, she just told me she was pregnant. She was kinda annoyed she had called you Dean ‘cause she figured she would have a girl this time. We decided that she could just call her Samantha if that was the case. It would’ve been fitting.” She winked at him.

“She’s my sister, you know.” He blurted out, having tuned out what she was saying in favour of his own internal monologue.

Her brow wrinkled in confusion. “Who?”

“Hermione. She’s my sister – our sister.” He smiled gently at her.

“What? Mary had a magical kid?” she breathed incredulously.

Dean grimaced. “Not exactly.”

Alice’s eyebrows flew high on her forehead “John? Can’t imagine that went over well. I heard he went kinda bananas at the end of it.”

“He uh, he didn’t know about the magic. He didn’t see her that much,” he shrugged, brushing it off, “- we didn’t even know about her till recently.”

“But she’s from England. How the hell –“ she was luckily interrupted by Eric who called everyone over to go through strategy one last time.

They’d packed everything up and was loading things into the cars when he grabbed Alice’s arm. “You heard she came back, right?”

“What d’you mean? Who came back?” she questioned with a frown.

“Mom. From the dead. She was brought back a few years ago.”

She drew in a breath “But where is she then? Can I see her?”

Dean winced. “That’s kind of a long story. She’s somewhere else, but when she comes back, I think she’d like to have some family back.” He gave her arm a squeeze and left her stunned to go put his duffel in the trunk of Baby.

He slid into the driver’s seat and groaned when he realised that Gabriel was sitting behind to him in all his obnoxious glory. Well, half his glory, but fully obnoxious. This was going to be the worst road trip ever. At least Cas was there too, looking just as exasperated as he felt. Just as he was about to floor it, the door back door opened, and Eric jumped into the back seat next to Gabriel who looked disgruntled that he didn’t get the space to himself.

“Dude, can’t you just teleport there or whatever?” he whined.

Eric shrugged “Probably, but it’s been ages since I’ve been in a car and this is one fine piece of machinery.” He ran a hand reverently along the leather upholstery.

Dean smirked “They just don’t make ‘em like this anymore.”

“Try ever.” Eric snorted. “Wizards have no appreciation of cars. It’s a damn shame. Imagine if this beauty could fly.” he smiled.

Dean choked “Get out of my car!”

“But I – I just.” Eric stammered wide-eyed. “Jeez, I’m not gonna do anything.”

Dean huffed. “Just. Don’t do anything to my car. She’s perfect the way she is.”

“Well, can’t argue with that” Eric shrugged and went back to stroking the leather.

Dean looked in the rear-view mirror and caught Gabriel’s eye. He was suddenly incredibly grateful that the angel was only going on half power. That smirk and that eye-brow waggle had never been good news. He took a deep fortifying breath and cranked up the volume on Immigrant Song by Led Zeppelin. It was going to be a long drive.

…

It took far too long in Gabriel’s opinion to get everything ready to roll. They had to wait because some of the Campbells took a wrong turn. Then they had to wait for everyone to find their places, then they had to wait for Eric to put up those damn wards and then they could go inside. He was so full of nervous energy that he was certain that if he’d had just a little more grace, he would have been floating several inches above the ground. Castiel silently put a hand on his shoulder and squeezed, grounding him, so to speak.

“I need to call our British buddies.” He remembered.

“I hate British people.” Dean grumbled somewhere behind him, but Gabriel opted to ignore him and flicked through the phone to find the contact he needed.

“ _Hello?”_

“Hey Red. You guys ready?”

Ginny snorted _“Born ready – you won’t know what hit you.”_

“Well it’s not us you’re supposed to hit, you walnut.” He said in mock exasperation.

 _“Whatever. Just get our girl back, yeah?”_ He could practically hear the eye roll.

“Will do.” He promised “I’ll text you when we’re ready.”

“ _We're on standby.”_

...

The interior of the Woolworth building was beautiful with its vaulted ceiling, but the way Dean was catching flies with his open mouth was getting embarrassing. Damn tourist. Gabriel closed Dean’s mouth with a finger under hiss chin, causing the hunter to scowl and slap at his arm.

“Guys” Eric chastised “focus.”

They walked down a hall off to the right and Gabriel shivered from the slight breeze that crept up on them.

“Did I feed the meter? I don’t wanna get a ticket.” Dean frowned and turned around.

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at him “You didn’t need to feed the meter, you dolt. There’s an app for parking.”

“Right, right.” Dean turned back towards them, but huffed “Dammit, I forgot to buy beer, we're almost out.”

Eric sighed. “It’s a charm made to repel no-maj's. Technically you guys must be magical beings since it doesn’t work on you.” He told Gabriel and Castiel. “Dean! Listen, man. I need you to grab onto my arm.”

Dean frowned at him “But I gotta go.” He pointed outside.

“Sure, you know what? Wherever you think it is that you need to go – I can get you there faster. I just need you to hold on tight, okay?” Eric tried to appease him.

“Yeah, yeah, whatever.” Dean grumbled but did as instructed. They crossed the wards and he shook his head when they were on the other side.

“What the hell man?” He exploded and let go of Eric’s arm as if he’d been burned by it.

“I know, I know. Just – look here. There’s a changing room over here that people use when they travel to and from the wizarding world. It’s off here to the left.” Eric led them down a hall, through a door with golden patterns which resembled vines, swinging in a non-existent wind. Neat trick. Gabriel wanted it.

The changing room was lined with small cubicles along each wall. Luckily, it was empty so they could talk freely. “Almost no one go here. The only reason I know of it is because I’m no-maj-born. My parents were allowed to come through once when I was to get my first school supplies. Magical people just apparate or floo.” Eric shrugged and changed his clothes with his wand.

Gabriel rolled his eyes and sighed. Being human sucked ass. He didn’t want to waste what little grace he had, but man his fingers were tingling to show off how he could do it with just a snap. Instead he trudged into one of the damned little cubicles and started stripping.

“Where the hell is the front end of this thing?” He growled at the bright blue garment which he’d been given.

It was like putting up a circus tent without instruction. After struggling with buttons, ribbons (what the fuck?) and buckles, he was finally ready to join the others and get the show started properly.

“Okay. You guys ready?” Eric asked rhetorically.

“As ready as I’ll ever be while wearing a dress.” Dean shrugged.

Eric tried scowling at him but broke a small smile anyway. “Gabriel, you should text your friends. I’m not sure how well the phone is going to be once we’re fully inside MACUSA. Tell them to go 5 minutes from now. I need you guys to take a wand from this bag. They’re all tagged so you can see the wood, core and length.”

Gabriel did as he was told and pulled out a stick much like Hermione’s and still so hugely different from hers. This wand seemed harder somehow. It was thicker, in a light brown polished wood. It had several rings carved in the handle, but all in all it seemed rather simple. He checked the slip of paper which he realised was an evidence tag. _Red oak – Thunderbird tailfeather – 8 ¾ inches_

“Dude, where did you get these? Did you steal them?” Dean asked the wizard as he studied the tag on his own wand which was light – almost white in colour. Castiel had pulled an almost rosy-coloured wand out with a polished crystal in the handle.

Eric blushed and sighed heavily. “After the war, some years ago, I realised that there was great risk of it happening here. The British ministry fell so fast and while regular people were left defenceless – people like me were hunted. So, I may or may not have lost a wand or two, from evidence that were supposed to be destroyed, on some specific but undisclosable locations.”

“Smart” Dean nodded to Eric’s surprise. “Well, you obviously turned out to be right. And it’s never not smart to have a back-up plan and a safehouse.”

“I – Uh, well thank you.” Eric stuttered.

...

The atrium of MACUSA was nothing less than beautiful. Of course, Gabriel had seen more stunning things and even created more awe-inspiring stuff. Cassie had seen the beginning of creation too and was also hard to impress, but Dean’s human brain had difficulty with processing the golden halls of the American magical congress. Gabriel once again had to shut the man’s mouth manually, which earned him a scowl. They followed Eric’s lead through the large area that was lined with fireplaces and held clearly marked spots for apparition and portkey travel. A group of wizards were investigating said areas, probably wondering why no-one could apparate. Gabriel just hoped they wouldn’t realise that the reason was because Eric had set up wards with his ministry issued key. Just in time as they reached what was supposedly the wand registration, a loud boom interrupted the normal hustle and bustle of people going through their normal routines. Eric wasted no time in leading the forward through the registration while the wizard overseeing the process was distracted. Just before they turned a corner, Gabriel turned around and just caught a glimpse of Ginny Weasley creating a scandal by zooming unstably around on her broom seemingly in a drunken argument with her earless brother George who was chasing her with a bat while several of their other friends were yelling at them from the ground. Some guy was taking photos with the flash going off again and again.

Damn she was good.

Eric led them down different halls. Several Aurors passed them along the way as they ran to the commotion in the entrance hall. As they reached the now nearly empty Auror department, Eric slowed them down.

“We don’t have much time. I suggest we split up to cover more ground. I'll take Gabriel with me down to the holding cells and you guys can take the interrogation rooms, yeah? They’re just down this hall.”

They all agreed, and Gabriel followed Eric down another hallway further down the line.

...

The door swung open, revealing the man their captors had been looking for, closely followed by Castiel.

“Dean!” Sam shouted, in warning.

Ironwood turned towards the newcomer “Avada keda –“

“No!” Hermione screamed and ripped her right hand straight out of the enchanted bindings tying her to the chair. She threw her arm out to the side and watched in amazement as Rowena and Ironwood were thrown across the room and slammed into the far wall. Both crumbled to the ground unmoving.

Hermione stared at her hand in shock. Luckily, neither Sam, Dean or Castiel knew the limitations of magic, but Hermione knew that there was no way in hell she should have been able to break through those enchantments and yet, she had done so with ease as if she had been held down by toilet paper. Throwing people across rooms, wordlessly and wandlessly should not have been possible either. Her capabilities and strength had grown through the last period of time, but this broke the scale. She wondered if this was the magical equivalent to people lifting cars in freak rushes of adrenaline, but this was neither the time nor place for any deep contemplation.

She wasted no further time in trying to use her newfound skill again to release her other arm and breaking Sam free too.

“How did you get here?” she demanded.

“Eric Everglade” Castiel answered as he put two fingers to her forehead, wanting to heal her. He looked at her in confusion and was just about to speak when she cut him off.

“Is he here? Are there more of you?”

“He’s here. He took Gabriel down to the holding cells. They’re probably coming back soon, let’s go.” Dean rushed them

“And Arthur?” She asked. Dean faltered and she noticed.

“He – uh, he’s not here.” He floundered but pulled himself together soon enough when they heard footsteps running outside “We need to go – now!”

They opened the door exactly in time to see Eric and Gabriel come running down the hall towards them, with three wizards on their tail shooting spells at them. Eric answered the literal fire from time to time with his own spells which he fired over his shoulder.

“Granger!” He yelled and threw her wand which she had no idea how she caught. A fear of heights was not the only reason she didn’t play quidditch – she was rubbish at catching things. She started throwing up shields leaving small openings for Eric to attack through.

“We need to get away from these guys. Are there civilians in the building?” She asked Eric without looking at him.

“In the Atrium. Your friends are keeping them occupied along with some of the Aurors. I assume there’s going to be a lot of people out there.”

“So, we can’t move the fighting out there. Can we lock these wankers in somewhere?”

Eric grinned at her “Let’s go!” He set off into a sprint and the others had no option but to follow since their pursuers were gaining in on them.

Eric and Hermione moved like a unit that had trained together for years. They ran down the hall and skidded around a corner with their friends. Hermione opened a door on the other side and just as their enemy reached them, Eric blasted them through the door which Hermione locked and warded with the strongest charms she knew. Their brief triumph was interrupted by the furious roar of Chief Auror Ironwood who came thundering towards them as fast as his corpulent body could carry him, which was much faster than Hermione had given him credit for.

“Impedimenta!” She cried, pointing her wand at the wizard she had come to greatly dislike. She had put slightly more force into the spell than intended though, so while in was only supposed to slow an opponent for a second or two, he ended up running in slow motion which looked bizarre to say the least. Eric looked at her with an impressed kind of horror. Even the two angels in the group, who had seen a great many strange sights, stood staring transfixed at the man coming towards them. His face was red with effort, but he only managed to move at the speed of a snail.

“His first name is Phallus.” Hermione told Gabriel conversationally when she’d caught her breath.

“Huh.” Gabriel was still standing in a similar stance as Castiel with his head tilted staring at the walrus who was ever so slowly closing in “What a dick.” He deadpanned.

Dean snorted. “Right, so, what’s the plan?” he asked no one in particular.

“Well, Chief is probably going to be released from the spell any minute, so we can’t stay here. We need to make it back out again. Preferably the same way as we came in. It wouldn’t hurt for people to see Granger in the state she’s in. It'll suit our narrative well.” Eric pointed out.

Hermione frowned and looked down at herself not having realised that she looked in any specific way. Then she noticed that her clothes were torn in several places and blood was flowing from a wound in her side. She grimaced at the sight and by the sting of her cheek she realised that she probably had a few cuts there as well. Sam didn’t look much better either.

“Are you a politician by any chance, Eric?” She inquired with a grin.

Eric’s cheeks reddened slightly, and he rubbed his neck self-consciously “I’d considered it to be honest. I just want to make the world a better place but a no-maj-born like me? I probably won’t stand a chance.”

Dean snorted “Well, there’s a go-getter attitude if I ever saw one.” He rolled his eyes and walked closer to the wizard who still looked like he was running through syrup.

“Don’t” Castiel stopped him when he was about to poke the guy. “The spell is turning unstable. We should leave while he’s still trapped.”

“Or we could kill him.” Gabriel suggested with a shrug that was meant to look casual. Hermione could read him like her favourite book though and judging by the twitch of his wings, lethargic as they still seemed, he was barely holding it together. He wanted to watch that man burn, but Eric was right. It wouldn’t suit their purpose.

“Not yet.” She murmured into his ear and gave his hand a squeeze.

Eric sent a stunner at the man, who fell straight to the floor when the impedimenta lifted simultaneously.

They started jogging towards the atrium, slowed down by the gash in Hermione’s side.

When they arrived, it was to pure chaos. People were standing around in the large hall, watching in fascination as a dozen or so Aurors tried to take control of the situation. Ginny was flying around on her broom cackling in glee, George was hanging from a chandelier and Weasley Wizard Wheezes products were flooding the scene. Children picked up joke items and set them off, keeping the chaos running with fireworks, Decoy Detonators and Giggle Gas.

Suddenly there was a large _BOOM_ behind them, and a dishevelled looking Rowena came limping out of the corridor they had just exited.

“You. Little. TART!” She screeched. Even through the explosions of the diversion their friends had provided, her voice carried to the onlookers, seemingly amplified.

“I told you it would bite you in the arse when you refused to join my coven.” She growled at Hermione.

Hermione would never admit it, but she feared Rowena as she stood there looking insane. It was like watching volatile explosives being thrown around by baggage handlers at an airport. She had only seen Rowena in control of herself, maybe slightly bent, but never completely unhinged. It became obvious how powerful a dark witch she was, with the wind whipping uncontrollably and clouds gathering around her with purple sparks and lightning streaking through them. She thought idly to herself that they were only missing the green flames and they would have a full scene of Maleficent turning into a dragon.

By Merlin, she hoped the bitch couldn’t turn into a dragon.

She didn’t transform, but she did attack. Hermione was without further warning slammed into a nearby column so hard that it cracked, and dust and small pieces of rubble fell from the ceiling. Her ears were ringing, and her muscles and bones ached, but she didn’t get any reprieve. An invisible hand was crushing her into the column, making it impossible to breathe and she swore she could hear ribs cracking. Her vision was getting fuzzy around the edges, but she saw the light change and felt the pressure drop. Gabriel stepped in front of her with his wings expanded and the light shining from him. She could see it took a lot of effort by the way the feathers were trembling, but she suspected she was the only one who could see that small detail. The pressure on her chest lifted and she slid down to the floor where she could watch the scene unfold through the gap between Gabriel’s legs.

She felt rather than heard his voice filling the entire room with his rage and watched in morbid fascination as Rowena burned to a crisp. Cold hands were patting her down, checking her for injuries and her vision was blocked by Sam’s frantic looking face. She couldn’t focus on what he was saying, but assumed it was something along the lines of ‘hold on’ or ‘stay with us’.

She tried, she really did, but her vision tunnelled, and everything turned dark.


	27. I get by with a little help from my friends

When Gabriel saw Hermione’s petite form go flying and heard the sickening crack of her skull slam into the column, he stopped thinking straight. White hot rage filled him to the brim, and he acted on instinct. He stepped between the two witches, effectively shielding Hermione who he heard slide to the floor. He kept his eyes trained on the crazy bitch who had just attacked the love of his considerably long life.

“Listen here, you piece of trash.” He sneered at her. He lifted a hand and Rowena started coughing. “Right now, you’re gonna be feeling a little hot.” He smiled cruelly and continued. “That’s because the fires of hell are catching up to you.” He closed his hand into a fist, and she started glowing from within. She screamed and squirmed, but Gabriel didn’t relent. She tried to lash out at him with her magic, but it was no match for the power of an Archangel, however subdued it might have been. The magical surge she sent at him might have killed any lesser being, but to Gabriel it merely felt like small crackles against his skin.

“You’re going down, you bitch and you’re staying down.” He spat as cracks started showing in her skin and a bright light shone through. Slowly, the dark witch started to disintegrate leaving behind a horrified silence amongst the people who had previously been occupied by the show put on by their British friends but had been drawn away by the spectacle Gabriel had created.

“I’ll visit you in Hell to make sure they treat you the way they should.” He assured with a sneer and kicked the smouldering remains. He felt completely drained and knew he had no grace left whatsoever. He turned around to be met with the sobering sight of four panicked men sitting around his curly haired witch, evidently trying to stabilize her in some way. What worried him the most was the way Castiel sat by her head with two fingers on her forehead and a deep troubled frown on his face.

He opened his eyes and looked at Gabriel with confused anguish “I can’t heal her, Gabriel”

Gabriel knew that his brother was trying all his best, but he couldn’t help but explode “What the hell do you mean ‘you can’t heal her’?”

“I- I don’t know.” He responded and he really did look bewildered.

Gabriel kneeled by her head and put his own fingers on her, but predictably he couldn’t feel anything. He was completely out of juice. He sat back in despair and watched as her brothers looked her over, checking her pulse and generally working as a team to help her. He supposed they had seen enough injuries to know the basics. The Auror Eric was waving his wand around over her, looking frustrated.

“Is there a healer present?!” He yelled at the crowd standing a distance, but no one volunteered. Ginny, George and a few others he didn’t remember the names of, were shoving their way past other witches and wizards in an attempt to reach them, but Gabriel knew that none of them were healers either.

“I found a pulse,” Sam announced in relief. “It’s not very strong though. We need to get her to a hospital.”

Eric nodded “I’ll lift the wards and we can transport her to the hospital.” He went to work quickly, making complicated wand movements and incantations. However, as soon as he had lifted the wards and they were about to transport Hermione, the nearest fireplace erupted in green flames and an irate Harry Potter stomped out, followed by a seriously formidable looking man in purple robes and Gabriel’s least favourite red head.

Harry looked around in obvious disbelief. “What the hell ha – “

“Where is president Quahog” The formidable looking man’s voice boomed, amplified by a spell. The authoritarian presence reminded Gabriel of his father. Not like Chuck as he was nowadays, but more like the good old times of the destruction of Sodom and Gomorrah. That guy was pissed, and Gabriel did not envy whoever would be the target of his retribution. He couldn’t be bothered by that though. Instead, he called out to Hermione’s pseudo brother even though he and Hermione’s other, more annoying friend were already jogging in their direction.

“Harry! We need a hospital. Now.”

Ron gasped and Harry took one look at his other best friend and addressed the purple robed dude. “Kingsley! It’s Hermione! We need to get her to a hospital!”

A murmur spread amongst the crowd

_“Hermione? Is it Hermione Granger?”_

_“Is she okay? Who was the other broad?”_

_“Hermione Granger, that war hero from Britain?”_

“I need to stay here.” Eric looked at the others pointedly. “We only stunned Ironwood and the others are hopefully still trapped in that room. One of us needs to stay here to clear things up and I’m the only American Auror here.”

Ron frowned, seemingly torn. “I should probably stay to help. But you keep me posted Harry, or so help me, I will send mum.”

Harry gulped “Do what you need to do.” He nodded at his friend. Gabriel hadn’t expected that the Weasley he disliked so much would be able to put duty above something like this. His respect for the red head went up a couple of notches. It was hard for it to go any lower, but it did go up, nonetheless. He knew he wouldn’t be able to leave Hermione in the condition she was in himself.

“What’s the floo address for the nearest hospital?” Harry asked Eric.

“That’ll be Manhattan Magical Medical.”

Harry waved his wand and made Hermione float in the air as if she were lying on some sort of invisible stretcher. Gabriel turned to Eric. “Have you got anything I can transport this in?” He asked, gesturing at the pile of human remains that used to be Rowena McLeod.

Eric shrugged “I can conjure something, but you can leave it here as well. I can dispose of it.”

“I’d really rather have it with me where I can keep an eye on it” Gabriel frowned at the lumps of charcoal and Eric raised an eyebrow at him.

“Hey, whatever floats your boat.” He shrugged and pulled a handkerchief out of his pocket which he transfigured into a drawstring bag with his wand.

Gabriel scooped up the ashes into the bag and ran to catch up with the others. He caught Eric and Ron approaching the purple robed dude out of the corner of his eyes. He hoped they would come to the bottom of the case and that the dick would pay.

…

Harry was trying hard to stay patient. The poor mediwizard looked ready to pee in his pants. Apparently telling the _Boy Who Lived_ that they didn’t know what was going on with his best friend was a daunting task.

“What do you mean ‘you don’t know’?” he ground out, trying to refrain from yelling. The other four people who had accompanied him and Hermione to the hospital didn’t seem to be faring much better. Sam was pacing, Dean was playing with a hunting knife in a way that was probably supposed to look casual, but Harry suspected that it would be lodged in the throat of the next person who brought bad news. Maybe it wasn’t Harry who struck fear in people’s hearts after all.

Gabriel was sitting in a chair with his head in his hands and Castiel was standing next to him with a comforting hand on his brother’s shoulder.

“We don’t – We can’t get any proper readings on her, Mister Potter. It’s like there’s interference.” The mediwizard huffed

“What sort of interference?” Harry growled.

“That’s it – we don’t know” the man halfway sobbed hysterically “No one has seen anything like this. Ever! Every damn healer in this entire hospital has taken a look at her and no one has any idea. They’re calling in other healers from all over the country, they’ve even got some ancient shaman coming from the fucking Himalayas! But at the moment we haven’t got a clue” the guy broke down.

“But she’s not… dying, is she?” Castiel broke in with a frown.

“I don’t – she’s breathing. That’s all I know. I’m sorry.” The wizard shrugged.

 _Thuck_ – The large knife was suddenly stuck in the wooden doorframe, exactly an inch from the mediwizard’s face. Dean stalked towards him and stood, looming over the man as he forcefully pulled it out. “Listen here. You’re gonna go back and you’re gonna find out what the hell is going on with my baby sister. I don’t care how you’re gonna do it, but _‘I don’t know’_ and ‘ _I’m sorry’_ ain’t good enough.” He threatened, with a scowl, waving the knife in front of the poor guy’s face.

“Dean.” Sam chastised exasperatedly. “He can’t do his job properly if he’s terrified.”

Dean let go of him with a huff and the mediwizard scrambled to get away from the five men in the waiting room.

“Can we at least go see her?” Harry called after him.

The only response he received was a whimper, which Harry took as a yes.

The others evidently did so too, because Gabriel stood, and they began moving towards the door. Harry stopped them by stepping in front of them with a raised hand.

“We’ll go see her, but first I need you to explain to me _exactly_ what happened.”

They told him how Hermione had been kept for weeks on weak charges by Ironwood. How Eric had busted her out, or what she had told them at least. Then Sam went on to explain how he had been stunned and Gabriel supplied with recounting how he had been frozen in place and had essentially witnessed the very unprofessional invasion of the Men of Letters’ bunker in Kansas. He agreed to an official review of the memory if it was deemed necessary in the upcoming investigation.

“You can use my memories too” Sam offered. “That guy, Ironwood, said some things during that interrogation. I don’t know what all of it means, but if you can use it, it’s yours.” He tapped his head and shrugged lightly.

Dean then launched into explaining the rescue mission, the parties involved and their strategy. How they had found Sam and Hermione and how they had escaped.

Harry nodded along, obviously in Auror-mode.

“But then what happened in the Atrium? It looked almost as if there’d been a show-down.”

Gabriel’s face soured and he threw a drawstring bag on the floor which gave off a small puff of dust.

“Rowena” he growled at the thing.

Sam stepped over and carefully nudged the bag with his left foot as if he expected it to explode into a pile of snakes. Harry raised an eyebrow at his peculiar behaviour.

“She can regenerate” Castiel sighed with a helpless shrug.

Harry frowned at the angel. “As in come back to life?”

Dean hummed and nodded in confirmation.

Harry sneered at the bag of remains “Not on my watch. Billie!” he called out.

The reaper came casually around the corner and leaned against the doorframe. She ran a finger over the hole left behind by Dean’s knife and raised an eyebrow in his direction.

“You rang, _master?_ ” she teased Harry with a sarcastic smirk.

He rolled his eyes. “We have a deal. I’m still not ready. I need you to do something for me though. In this bag is the remains of a witch who has attempted to cheat death and has done so successfully in the past – am I right?” He looked at the other men for confirmation. Dean, Sam and Castiel all nodded.

Billie frowned disgustedly at the bag, as if her dog had had diarrhoea and she had been told to pick it up. Nonetheless, she did so and walked towards the door.

“Until next time, boys" she sing-songed with a smirk at Dean and Sam and then she was gone.

“Rowena won’t come back this time.” Harry assured them.

“Wow. You’ve got friends in high places “Dean snarked.

Harry snorted. “With the risk of sounding boastful, I think you’re forgetting that _I_ _am_ the one in the high place, so to speak. While I certainly consider Billie to be a friend, I’m also technically her boss. If anyone has friends in high places it would be you.” He pointed out with a certain amount of bitterness.

...

The bed itself looked old and the paint on it was peeling. It almost looked like some of the beds in the various condemned asylums they had visited when dealing with hauntings. In fact, Hermione herself was so pale and frail looking she might as well have been close to being a ghost. Harry had conjured up chairs for all of them, but Sam didn’t feel like sitting down. He was pacing, full of restless energy.

He felt guilty. They had been caught together, tortured together, together when Rowena had attacked and yet he'd been useless and unable to help her. He had more experience with Rowena and should have been able to deal with her.

He would feel forever indebted to Gabriel for saving her when he couldn’t do it himself. It wasn’t his place to approve of her boyfriends, but that led him to another train of thought.

“Dean, where’s Ketch?” he wondered “He should probably know she’s here.”

Dean looked at the floor and Sam frowned. Something wasn’t right.

“He uh – he didn’t make it. He was captured. Along with Charlie.” He cleared his throat.

“Charlie?” Sam's eyebrows went high on his forehead.

“Yeah, well. Other Charlie I suppose.” Dean looked down at his fidgeting hands.

“Dean, what the hell happened?” Sam needed to know. He wasn’t the only one, judging from the looks Gabriel and Castiel sent Dean’s way.

Harry merely looked confused. “Who is this ‘Ketch', and why does he need to know why Hermione is in the hospital? I thought she was with that guy.” He gestured at Gabriel.

The archangel growled, “she is,” and returned to staring at her face.

Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead “It isn’t really our story to te-"

“He was her parental figure while growing up in traumatizing conditions provided by the British Men of Letters. She has been avoiding him until recently because he’s a cold-blooded assassin.” Castiel provided in his usual blunt fashion.

“Huh. He sounds delightful.” Harry deadpanned with a wry smile.

Dean frowned at him and leaned back in his chair with his arms crossed. “What, no disbelief? No feelings of betrayal? My guess is that you didn’t know about this and has been lying to you for years.”

Harry sighed and ran a hand through his hair, making it even more messy than usual. “Don’t get me wrong, I’m slightly disappointed that she felt she couldn’t tell me something like this, but I knew something was... off. I couldn’t be in this profession if I couldn’t sense these kinds of things,” he tapped the Auror-logo on the robes he was still wearing, “I knew Hermione was hiding something. Particularly after the war when she didn’t look for her parents. I might not know _all_ her secrets, but I know _her_ , and Hermione would stop at nothing to help those in need – especially the people she loves. If that didn’t include her parents, then something would have had to be very wrong. If anything, I should be angry at myself for not asking.”

No one seemed to know what to say to that. Sam finally sat down to wait for something to happen.

...

An hour after they had been let in to see Hermione, they were joined by Ginny and the entity that was Luna Lovegood. Gabriel was happy to notice that he was still able to sense her presence with his eyes closed, even though he didn’t have any grace left. He wondered it was just him or if others were comforted by her strange aura too.

“They’re not. They often find me disconcerting.”

“Maybe it has something to do with the way you listen in on people’s thoughts?” Harry suggested with a shrug and a bemused smile.

Luna looked at him with wider eyes than Gabriel thought possible. “It’s really not my fault when their thoughts are so loud, Harry." She defended.

Harry chuckled fondly.

“Sorry, Luna. I’ll endeavour to think quieter.” Gabriel conceded.

Luna squeezed his hand “Don’t worry, Gabriel, you think the nicest things.”

Dean coughed violently.

Luna walked past Gabriel and lowered her head, so she was almost nose to nose with Hermione’s unconscious form. She smiled gently at her friend.

“So, doc. What’s the verdict?” Gabriel half-joked.

“She’s not dying.” Luna announced with a smile.

“No shit, Sherlock.” Dean snorted and gave a grunt when he was elbowed in the stomach by his brother.

“They did say she was stable.” Castiel pointed out.

Luna rolled her eyes but didn’t elaborate.

Ginny had sat down on Harry’s lap in the meantime.

“Kings asked me to tell you to take the statements off this lot.” She told him.

“Already did that. Can you take this to him?” he gave her a small vial of memories containing the little impromptu interview-session he had with the other men. “Also, can you tell Ron that Hermione is okay? I meant to send a Patronus earlier.”

Ginny smiled gently and stood. “I’m just happy she’s going to be okay.”

“Technically we don’t know if she’s going to be alright, Gin.” He warned with a sigh. “She might not be dying at the moment, but we don’t know if she’ll wake up again.”

Ginny’s mouth pressed together in a thin line. “She survived Dolohov and she survived Bellatrix. She'll survive that bitch too.” She nodded determined.

“She survived a lot more than that.” Dean grumbled darkly.

Ginny frowned but didn’t ask him to elaborate.

“Luna, are you coming?”

“Of course. I think Rolf must be wondering where I am. We were supposed to go on an expedition yesterday. I forgot to tell him where I was going.” She smiled at Ginny. Their conversation continued as they left the room.

“Who on earth is Rolf?”

“Oh, he's my husband.”

“He’s your _what?”_

…

Another two days went by. Dean and Sam were helped by Harry to find a place to sleep nearby. Gabriel insisted on staying with Hermione and Castiel stayed to protect his brother.

Gabriel’s condition was fragile. He had lost all his grace but refused to acknowledge the consequences such a depletion had.

“Gabriel, you need to sleep.” Castiel tried to remind him.

“No.” Gabriel grumbled, not taking the eyes of his girlfriend. He was sitting in the same hospital chair he had occupied for the past few days. Every few minutes, his eyes would stay closed a bit too long when he was blinking and he would droop to the right, only to jolt awake and start all over again.

Castiel worried deeply about his brother. For being a known pragmatist, he was infuriatingly stubborn. He would ‘angel’ him to sleep, but even without his grace, Gabriel was still a powerful enough entity that he wouldn’t be able to do it against his will. Especially when said will was so set on looking out for Hermione.

He rubbed his forehead in exasperation “At least eat something then.” He demanded, waving a chocolate flavoured protein bar in front of Gabriel’s face. He snatched it out of his hand, opened it, took a bite and grimaced at the taste, all without moving his eyes from Hermione even once. Castiel then tried to tempt him into rehydrating with a lukewarm bottle of Fanta but didn’t have much luck.

“Still nothing?” Dean asked with a frown as the two Winchester brothers entered the room for the day.

Castiel shook his head. He hoped Hermione would wake soon. He had come to care for the witch, but Gabriel also needed her. With the way he was neglecting himself, his vessel would die before his grace would replenish itself enough to heal him. He had never seen his brother so subdued. Perhaps only when Lucifer was cast from heaven and then when their dad had left.

…

It was another day before they had more news from MACUSA. Eric walked into Hermione’s hospital room, closely followed by Ron. They both looked terrible.

“You okay there, buddy?” Dean asked when Eric tried to sit down on one of the chairs but missed and landed on his bottom.

Rather than getting back up, he leaned against the leg of the chair he had tried to sit down on.

“Man, I don’t even know where to begin.” He yawned and rubbed his face. Stubble was showing prominently and there were dark circles around his eyes. Ron didn’t look much better. He had always been pale but now he looked almost grey, making his bright orange hair look even brighter.

“We’ve only scratched the surface.” Ron moaned.

Eric gave a hollow humourless chuckle. “I thought we might have a small group of people acting on their own. Maybe this Rowena had something on the Chief. But it’s turned out to be much bigger than expected.”

“How much bigger?” Sam asked with a worried frown.

“The President was killed a week ago. We think by Chief Auror Ironwood. We also suspect that this was a part of a larger coup to seize power here in the States.” Ron supplied.

Eric snorted “Yeah, but we can’t know for sure, right? Because the Wizards are backwards thinking old idiots who won’t develop any sort of surveillance.” He spat bitterly.

“So, what, he’s just gonna walk?” Dean asked incredulously.

Ron waved him off “No, not entirely at least. We still have him for abduction, falsifying evidence, wrongful imprisonment and assault. When it came to the Cruciatus, he was unfortunately smart enough to get another one to perform it, so technically, his hands are ‘clean’ so to speak.”

“What do you need?” Gabriel asked from his place near Hermione’s bed, without moving his eyes from her.

Eric sighed heavily. “Other than 18 hours sleep and a bathtub-sized espresso? I’m afraid nothing you can provide. We need to do some more Auror-work and interrogate some people. You’re needed here. We just wanted to update you guys.” He got to his feet with a large grunt of effort.

“That, and I wondered if you’d seen Harry?” Ron requested.

Dean thought of the way Ginny had found them the night before. She had broken into the motel-room the brothers were staying at and had more or less pounced Harry when they came through the door. Then they had disappeared with a crack, but it looked deliberate, so he didn’t worry too much about it.

“Nope. Sorry, haven’t seen him” He denied. Sam raised an eyebrow at him, but he didn’t feel like telling the guy that his best friend was most likely boning his sister.

Ron frowned. “Well, if you see him, can you tell him that I’m looking for him? We need to settle some details with Kingsley. He’s stationing us here for a bit to help out the Americans. The International Confederation of Wizards is pulling Aurors from all over actually. I thought it could be nice to hang around here, with Hermione being - ” He nodded in her direction and sighed.

He and Eric left the two sets of brothers again and they fell into a quiet sort of vigil.

A while later – it might have been an hour, it might have been a week, the silence was interrupted by a soft snore.

Dean looked around to see who of them had fallen asleep and was relieved to see that Gabriel had slumped forwards and finally succumbed to the needs of his body but he was surprised to notice that the snoring didn’t come from him, but from the small figure on the bed.

Hermione had shifted slightly, and her neck was bent at an angle that made her snore. He felt a small sliver of hope. If she had moved, it wouldn’t be long before she would wake up. He didn’t want to disturb her but wanted to share his excitement with Sam and Cas, however, when he turned his head, Cas was gone, and Sam was asleep too.

He was sitting in his chair and leaning against the wall. Dean gleefully fished his phone out of his pocket to take photos of his siblings. They actually looked a lot alike in the way in which they drooled in their sleep.


End file.
